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2025 County Report

Fires in Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK

In 2025, fire departments serving Kenai Peninsula Borough responded to 694 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

58,866 residents FIPS 02122 53 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
694
3,249 across 5 years
Building fires
109
48 wildland
Property loss
$8.5M
$6.0M structure · $2.4M contents
Casualties
3 / 12
3 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 6 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

694
Total Incidents
Power line down 171 24.6%
Building fires 109 15.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 71 10.2%
Authorized controlled burning 46 6.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 30 4.3%
All other categories 267 38.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kenai Peninsula Borough?

Oct peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 66
Feb 36
Mar 28
Apr 55
May 63
Jun 47
Jul 74
Aug 47
Sep 53
Oct 111
Nov 43
Dec 71
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kenai Peninsula Borough

3,249 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 505
2022 673
2023 667
2024 710
2025 694
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 109 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
77
Cause undetermined
23%
42
Intentional / arson
11%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
22
Under investigation
10%
18
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Kenai Peninsula Borough during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 68% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 Kenai Building fires Major
2 $696,600 Nikiski Building fires Major
3 $550,000 Ninilchik Building fires Major
4 $500,000 Fox River Building fires Major
5 $373,800 Kasilof Building fires Major
6 $315,800 Kasilof Building fires Major
7 $300,000 Kenai Building fires Major
8 $219,000 Anchor Point Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Kenai Building fires Significant
10 $180,000 Nikiski Building fires Significant
06 How Kenai Peninsula Borough compares

Kenai Peninsula Borough vs AK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kenai Peninsula Borough
11.79
AK avg
8.42
US avg
7.15
1.85
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kenai Peninsula Borough
1.85
AK avg
1.2
US avg
0.82
51
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kenai Peninsula Borough
51
AK avg
19.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kenai Peninsula Borough

12 cities mapped to FIPS 02122.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kenai Peninsula Borough

7 departments report from this county.

Central Emergency Services
Soldotna
FDID 26320 255 incidents 15 paid 30 vol
Nikiski FD
—
FDID 26200 149 incidents 19 paid 29 vol
Homer VFD
—
FDID 26500 42 incidents 65 vol
City of Seward FD
Seward
FDID 26400 28 incidents 3 paid 30 vol
Moose Pass Volunteer Fire Company
—
FDID 26410 9 incidents 10 vol
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.