In 2025, fire departments serving Wickenburg responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
414 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 96 | +3.2% | |
| 2023 | 88 | -8.3% | |
| 2024 | 81 | -8.0% | |
| 2025 | 56 | -30.9% |
For the 6 building fires Wickenburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 164 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 | 32 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 26.8% |
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 Wickenburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 55.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 14 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wickenburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $99,999 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wickenburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 283,332 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 32,126 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,516 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,510 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Other causes | 16,240 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 15,980 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 12,252 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 10,482 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 9,629 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,537 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 8,877 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 7,944 | 43.3 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Wickenburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wickenburg.
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.