In 2025, fire departments serving Tacoma responded to 2,759 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
16,884 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $275.9M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,345 | — | |
| 2022 | 3,659 | +9.4% | |
| 2023 | 3,195 | -12.7% | |
| 2024 | 3,926 | +22.9% | |
| 2025 | 2,759 | -29.7% |
For the 112 building fires Tacoma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 5,660 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 | 2,699 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 610 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 403 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 253 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 248 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 162 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 120 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 116 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 97 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 87 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 865 | 15.3% |
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 Tacoma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2,609 | 46.1% | |
| 2 | Incendiary device | 639 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 362 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 286 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 224 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 222 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 188 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 155 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 146 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 141 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 688 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tacoma departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 48% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $495,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $412,900 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tacoma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
41 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,962 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Fireworks | 1,100 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 385 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 34.2 mi |
Top 10 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 Tacoma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tacoma.
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.