In 2025, fire departments serving Surprise responded to 588 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 62% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,818 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 535 | — | |
| 2022 | 586 | +9.5% | |
| 2023 | 564 | -3.8% | |
| 2024 | 545 | -3.4% | |
| 2025 | 588 | +7.9% |
For the 123 building fires Surprise departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 648 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 99 | 15.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 92 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 81 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 59 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 54 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 25 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 25 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 17 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 169 | 26.1% |
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 Surprise mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 174 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 92 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 77 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 68 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 47 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 45 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 38 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 24 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 60 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Surprise departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 80% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Surprise sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
3,698 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 716 | |
| 30-39 | 1,149 | |
| 40-49 | 1,227 | |
| 50-59 | 568 | |
| 60-69 | 36 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 517,478 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,516 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Other causes | 16,240 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,534 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,476 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 12,252 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 10,482 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 9,629 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,537 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 8,877 | 42.5 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Surprise. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Surprise.
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.