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2025 County Report

Fires in Anchorage Municipality, AK

In 2025, fire departments serving Anchorage Municipality responded to 2,461 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4.2M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

290,674 residents FIPS 02020 8 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
2,461
11,652 across 5 years
Building fires
179
122 wildland
Property loss
$38.3M
$23.8M structure · $14.6M contents
Casualties
3 / 34
3 civ deaths · 17 civ inj · 17 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

2,461
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 566 23.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 459 18.7%
Outside rubbish fire, other 219 8.9%
Building fires 179 7.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 158 6.4%
All other categories 880 35.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Anchorage Municipality?

Jul peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 232
Feb 196
Mar 201
Apr 240
May 278
Jun 242
Jul 309
Aug 196
Sep 167
Oct 151
Nov 111
Dec 138
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Anchorage Municipality

11,652 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,887
2022 2,480
2023 2,396
2024 2,428
2025 2,461
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 179 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
207
Cause undetermined
26%
140
Intentional / arson
14%
76
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
70
Under investigation
4%
23
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $13.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Anchorage Municipality during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 56% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $4,228,045 Anchorage Building fires Major
2 $2,000,000 Anchorage Building fires Major
3 $1,626,930 Anchorage Building fires Major
4 $925,000 Anchorage Building fires Major
5 $925,000 Anchorage Building fires Major
6 $800,000 Anchorage Building fires Major
7 $750,000 Eagle River Building fires Major
8 $714,683 Anchorage Building fires Major
9 $665,215 Anchorage Building fires Major
10 $566,576 Anchorage Building fires Major
06 How Anchorage Municipality compares

Anchorage Municipality vs AK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.47
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Anchorage Municipality
8.47
AK avg
8.42
US avg
7.15
0.62
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Anchorage Municipality
0.62
AK avg
1.2
US avg
0.82
10.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Anchorage Municipality
10.3
AK avg
19.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Anchorage Municipality

8 cities mapped to FIPS 02020.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AK

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 832015 1988 AFS 558,928
2 Minto Flats South 2009 DVF 534,911
3 FYU NE 85 1990 BLM 433,768
4 BEAR CREEK 1977 AFS 374,389
5 Simels 1997 BLM 347,860
6 Big Creek Two 2015 BLM 312,918
7 BTTS S 40 1990 BLM 289,913
8 032018 1990 BLM 287,704
9 832064 1988 AFS 284,466
10 Sushgitit Hills 2015 BLM 276,038

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.