In 2025, fire departments serving Wadsworth responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 73% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
80 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $277K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | +41.7% | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | -48.3% |
* Well below Wadsworth'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 0 building fires Wadsworth 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 | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Technical processing areas, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 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 Wadsworth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wadsworth departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $55,000 | Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $250 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wadsworth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 631,692 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 | 98,960 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 94,220 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 51,386 | 23.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 47,133 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 47,029 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 41,545 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 36,142 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 22,674 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 16,988 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 16,284 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,584 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 14,004 | 28.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Wadsworth. 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.