In 2025, fire departments serving Walla Walla responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $437K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,356 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 322 | — | |
| 2022 | 183 | -43.2% | |
| 2023 | 306 | +67.2% | |
| 2024 | 220 | -28.1% | |
| 2025 | 325 | +47.7% |
For the 28 building fires Walla Walla departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 283 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 | 39 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 20 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 87 | 30.7% |
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 Walla Walla mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 25 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 10 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 18.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walla Walla departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $436,890 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $222,417 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Walla Walla sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 457,348 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 109,259 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 80,212 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 52,000 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,000 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 22,000 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21,620 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,377 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,500 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,375 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,929 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,168 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,988 | 32.2 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Walla Walla. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Walla Walla.
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.