Home› Counties› WA› Adams County
2025 County Report

Fires in Adams County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Adams County responded to 181 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

11,552 residents FIPS 53001 42 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
181
862 across 5 years
Building fires
10
57 wildland
Property loss
$13K
$12K structure · $1K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

181
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 44 24.3%
Attempted burning, illegal action, other 27 14.9%
Authorized controlled burning 15 8.3%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 12 6.6%
Building fires 10 5.5%
All other categories 73 40.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Adams County?

Jun peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 6
Feb 9
Mar 17
Apr 15
May 15
Jun 33
Jul 25
Aug 20
Sep 17
Oct 11
Nov 8
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Adams County

862 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 130
2022 193
2023 190
2024 168
2025 181
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
77%
65
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
6%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
1%
1
Under investigation
8%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
6
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $12K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Adams County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 OTHELLO Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $2,000 OTHELLO Special outside fire, other Significant
06 How Adams County compares

Adams County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Adams County
15.67
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
0.87
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Adams County
0.87
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Adams County
0
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Adams County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53001.

CityPopulation 
Othello 8,582 View ›
Ritzville 1,733 View ›
Lind 569 View ›
Hatton 492 View ›
Washtucna 176 View ›
Mack 0 View ›
Weber 0 View ›
Pizarro 0 View ›
Cunningham 0 View ›
Palm Lake 0 View ›
Pifer 0 View ›
Reiman 0 View ›
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in WA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Carlton 2014 BLM 230,101
2 Cold Springs 2020 BIA 189,911
3 Range 12 2016 DOD 176,834
4 Range 12 2016 BLM 175,245
5 Tunk Block 2015 BLM 165,004
6 North Star 2015 USFS 165,003
7 Diamond Creek 2017 USFS 126,836
8 Lime Belt 2015 BLM 120,526
9 SCHNEIDER SPRINGS 2021 USFS 107,352
10 Colockum Tarps 2013 BLM 81,513

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.