In 2025, fire departments serving Westlake responded to 95 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 51% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
414 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 85 | — | |
| 2023 | 91 | +7.1% | |
| 2024 | 137 | +50.5% | |
| 2025 | 95 | -30.7% |
* Well below Westlake'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 6 building fires Westlake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | 40 | 31.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 11.9% |
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 Westlake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 72 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westlake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westlake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 165,289 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,864 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 12,154 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 11,218 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 11,210 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 8,874 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 7,433 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,000 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 6,385 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 6,384 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 6,365 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,259 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 6,174 | 26.2 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Westlake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Westlake.
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.