In 2025, fire departments serving Tucson responded to 4,925 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K 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 51% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
24,996 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $32.8M cumulative property loss. 15 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4,597 | — | |
| 2022 | 4,515 | -1.8% | |
| 2023 | 5,827 | +29.1% | |
| 2024 | 5,132 | -11.9% | |
| 2025 | 4,925 | -4.0% |
For the 210 building fires Tucson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13,596 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 | 9,556 | 70.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 1,385 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 410 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 405 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 317 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 205 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 108 | 0.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 94 | 0.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 71 | 0.5% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 70 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 975 | 7.2% |
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 Tucson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11,670 | 85.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 306 | 2.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 179 | 1.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 177 | 1.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 176 | 1.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 132 | 1.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 123 | 0.9% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 121 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 115 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 83 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 514 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tucson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 42% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $260,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $179,828 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $152,240 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $109,646 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tucson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
1,633 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 | 9 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 312 | |
| 30-39 | 529 | |
| 40-49 | 572 | |
| 50-59 | 179 | |
| 60-69 | 24 | |
| 70-79 | 6 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 595,450 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 119,978 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 82,440 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 68,079 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 46,991 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 38,179 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 35,696 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,600 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 27,259 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,668 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 15,405 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 14,590 | 22.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,495 | 41.5 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 Tucson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tucson.
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.