In 2025, fire departments serving Chelan County responded to 450 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $394K 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 50% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips.
3,990 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 999 | |
| 2022 | 849 | |
| 2023 | 819 | |
| 2024 | 873 | |
| 2025 | 450 |
For the 42 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Chelan County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 81% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $393,774 | Chelan | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $300,000 | Entiat | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $281,053 | ENTIAT | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $250,000 | Wenatchee | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $250,000 | ENTIAT | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $250,000 | Leavenworth | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $227,000 | WENATCHEE | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $200,000 | ENTIAT | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $175,000 | MALAGA | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $121,800 | ENTIAT | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 53007.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Wenatchee | 35,365 | View › |
| Chelan | 4,269 | View › |
| Sunnyslope | 3,553 | View › |
| Cashmere | 3,244 | View › |
| Leavenworth | 2,619 | View › |
| Manson | 1,385 | View › |
| South Wenatchee | 1,267 | View › |
| Entiat | 1,038 | View › |
| Chelan Falls | 106 | View › |
| Chiwaukum | 0 | View › |
| Hollywood Beach | 0 | View › |
| Winesap | 0 | View › |
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.