In 2025, fire departments serving Tempe responded to 763 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.1M 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 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,985 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $26.9M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,051 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,214 | +15.5% | |
| 2023 | 1,132 | -6.8% | |
| 2024 | 825 | -27.1% | |
| 2025 | 763 | -7.5% |
For the 114 building fires Tempe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,610 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 | 609 | 37.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 138 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 126 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 123 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 50 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 32 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 32 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 29 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 29 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 26 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 416 | 25.8% |
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 Tempe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 881 | 54.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 190 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 122 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 62 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 56 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 56 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 36 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 27 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 26 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 19 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 135 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tempe departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 69% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,116,726 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $789,202 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $645,036 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $459,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $370,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $265,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $176,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tempe sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
29 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 926,125 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 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 123,875 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 23.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,618 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 16,100 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,534 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,476 | 35.0 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Tempe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tempe.
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.