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2025 County Report

Fires in Franklin County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin County responded to 587 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

86,740 residents FIPS 53021 30 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
587
2,927 across 5 years
Building fires
60
185 wildland
Property loss
$2.9M
$2.4M structure · $561K contents
Casualties
0 / 7
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 7 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 59% of all calls.

587
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 128 21.8%
Unauthorized burning 67 11.4%
Building fires 60 10.2%
Grass fire 46 7.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 43 7.3%
All other categories 243 41.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Franklin County?

Jul peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 44
Feb 46
Mar 28
Apr 28
May 47
Jun 58
Jul 105
Aug 72
Sep 44
Oct 43
Nov 30
Dec 42
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Franklin County

2,927 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 577
2022 594
2023 595
2024 574
2025 587
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 60 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
61
Cause undetermined
16%
19
Intentional / arson
8%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
19
Under investigation
7%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Franklin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 66% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Pasco Building fires Major
2 $350,000 Pasco Building fires Major
3 $157,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Pasco Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Pasco Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $60,000 Pasco Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Franklin County compares

Franklin County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.77
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
6.77
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
0.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
0.69
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Franklin County
0
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Franklin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Franklin County

1 departments report from this county.

Franklin2 Kahlotus
KAHLOTUS
FDID 11D02 0 incidents 38 vol
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.