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2025 County Report

Fires in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK

In 2025, fire departments serving Ketchikan Gateway Borough responded to 94 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss.

8,529 residents FIPS 02130 7 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
94
600 across 5 years
Building fires
19
4 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.6M structure · $261K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

94
Total Incidents
Building fires 19 20.2%
Authorized controlled burning 12 12.8%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 8 8.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 8.5%
Oil or other combustible liquid spill 7 7.4%
All other categories 40 42.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ketchikan Gateway Borough?

Aug peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 7
Feb 6
Mar 0
Apr 12
May 8
Jun 16
Jul 13
Aug 21
Sep 6
Oct 2
Nov 2
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ketchikan Gateway Borough

600 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 94
2022 126
2023 110
2024 176
2025 94
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
7
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
26%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
2
Under investigation
21%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ketchikan Gateway Borough during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Ketchikan Building fires Major
2 $391,400 KETCHIKAN Building fires Major
3 $200,000 KETCHIKAN Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 KETCHIKAN Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 KETCHIKAN Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 KETCHIKAN Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $30,000 Ketchikan Building fires Significant
8 $6,000 KETCHIKAN Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $5,000 KETCHIKAN Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle Significant
10 $1,500 KETCHIKAN Building fires Significant
06 How Ketchikan Gateway Borough compares

Ketchikan Gateway Borough vs AK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.02
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ketchikan Gateway Borough
11.02
AK avg
8.42
US avg
7.15
2.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ketchikan Gateway Borough
2.23
AK avg
1.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ketchikan Gateway Borough
0
AK avg
19.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ketchikan Gateway Borough

7 cities mapped to FIPS 02130.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ketchikan Gateway Borough

2 departments report from this county.

North Tongass VFD
Ketchikan
FDID 13425 15 incidents
South Tongass VFD
Ketchikan
FDID 13400 14 incidents 3 paid
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.