In 2025, fire departments serving White Salmon responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $336K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | -19.0% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | — |
* Well below White Salmon'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 2 building fires White Salmon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 25.0% |
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 White Salmon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by White Salmon departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. White Salmon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 669,869 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 100,226 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78,425 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 68,135 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 53,523 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 48,488 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33,451 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 28,500 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,093 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,995 | 27.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 24,400 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 20,296 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20,026 | 24.3 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of White Salmon. 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.