In 2025, fire departments serving Benton County responded to 1,763 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips.
8,465 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,736 | |
| 2022 | 1,709 | |
| 2023 | 1,675 | |
| 2024 | 1,582 | |
| 2025 | 1,763 |
For the 205 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Benton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000,000 | BNCO | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $730,550 | Richland | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $548,530 | Kennewick | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $500,000 | Richland | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $400,000 | Benton City | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $250,000 | Kennewick | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $206,000 | Richland | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $200,000 | Kennewick | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $200,000 | BNCO | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $200,000 | Kennewick | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 53005.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.