In 2025, fire departments serving West Richland responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
569 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 98 | — | |
| 2022 | 128 | +30.6% | |
| 2023 | 100 | -21.9% | |
| 2024 | 86 | -14.0% | |
| 2025 | 157 | +82.6% |
For the 18 building fires West Richland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 129 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 | 31 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 23.3% |
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 West Richland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 41.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 17.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Richland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Richland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 985,939 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 171,915 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 163,884 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 78,000 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72,641 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,520 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 48,902 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 41,748 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,648 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,000 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,892 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,650 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,672 | 45.2 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 West Richland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Richland.
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.