In 2025, fire departments serving Washington responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
120 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $581K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 58 | — | |
| 2024 | 38 | -34.5% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -42.1% |
* Well below Washington'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 1 building fires Washington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 62 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 | 19 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 24.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 22.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 4.8% |
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 Washington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 71.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Washington departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Washington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,338 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,877 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,633 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,295 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,071 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 842 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 753 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 720 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 668 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 600 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 510 | 48.3 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Washington. 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.