In 2025, fire departments serving Sultan responded to 105 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
504 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 124 | — | |
| 2022 | 108 | -12.9% | |
| 2023 | 123 | +13.9% | |
| 2024* | 44 | — | |
| 2025 | 105 | — |
* Well below Sultan'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 22 building fires Sultan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | 20 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 32.9% |
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 Sultan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sultan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,500 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sultan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,891 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Natural | 4,607 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 3,880 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 3,166 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,162 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 1,132 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 1,097 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 969 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 778 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 750 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 602 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 550 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 497 | 47.6 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Sultan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sultan.
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.