In 2025, fire departments serving Tahlequah responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
668 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 188 | — | |
| 2022* | 42 | — | |
| 2023* | 27 | — | |
| 2024 | 207 | — | |
| 2025 | 204 | -1.4% |
* Well below Tahlequah'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 Tahlequah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 328 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 | 67 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 56 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 7 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 21.0% |
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 Tahlequah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 183 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 12 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tahlequah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tahlequah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 102,438 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,880 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,080 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,120 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,370 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,960 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,900 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 28.9 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Tahlequah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tahlequah.
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.