In 2025, fire departments serving Tonopah responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
36 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $500K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | — |
* Well below Tonopah'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 3 building fires Tonopah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 6 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Tonopah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 68.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tonopah departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tonopah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 16 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,001 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,530 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 6,182 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 1,400 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 771 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 543 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 142 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 100 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 60 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 24 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 33.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 89049 | 36 |
Six Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Tonopah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.