In 2025, fire departments serving Star Valley responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +47.1% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -24.0% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Star Valley's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Star Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Closet | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 13.0% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Star Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Star Valley sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,476,497 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 259,158 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 209,704 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 119,500 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 33,850 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 30,641 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 23,885 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 29.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 85541 | 78 |
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Star Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Star Valley.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.