In 2025, fire departments serving Vader responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 82% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
94 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $433K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +15.0% |
* Well below Vader'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 7 building fires Vader departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 24.3% |
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 Vader mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 7 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vader departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $250 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vader sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,130 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 | 384 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 268 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 16.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 140 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 106 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 103 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 103 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 42.4 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 | 98593 | 94 |
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Vader. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vader.
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.