In 2025, fire departments serving Washington responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
233 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $265K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | — | |
| 2023 | 52 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | 72 | +38.5% | |
| 2025 | 43 | -40.3% |
* 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 3 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 86 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 | 18 | 20.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Incinerator area | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 19.8% |
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 | 38 | 44.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.0% |
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. 1,971 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 143 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 125 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 109 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 83 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 25.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 33.9 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 West Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Washington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Washington.
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.