In 2025, fire departments serving Sunnyside responded to 128 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $900K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
643 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 193 | — | |
| 2022 | 122 | -36.8% | |
| 2023 | 90 | -26.2% | |
| 2024 | 110 | +22.2% | |
| 2025 | 128 | +16.4% |
For the 23 building fires Sunnyside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 269 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 | Outside area, other | 61 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 59 | 21.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 20 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 14.9% |
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 Sunnyside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 137 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 19 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Match | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sunnyside departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $900,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sunnyside sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,101,480 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 171,915 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 163,884 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 78,000 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72,641 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 71,209 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,520 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 48,902 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 46,802 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 41,748 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33,103 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,648 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,093 | 38.0 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 Sunnyside. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sunnyside.
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.