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In 2025, fire departments serving Tualatin responded to 128 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $550K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
799 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 186 | — | |
| 2022 | 178 | -4.3% | |
| 2023 | 146 | -18.0% | |
| 2024 | 161 | +10.3% | |
| 2025 | 128 | -20.5% |
For the 13 building fires Tualatin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 339 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 64 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 39 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 9.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 25 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 6 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 67 | 19.8% |
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 Tualatin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 149 | 44.0% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 47 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tualatin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $550,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $22,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tualatin sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 430,069 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 193,573 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 138,054 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 48,488 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 24,400 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 2,033 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 790 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 532 | 23.5 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Tualatin. 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.