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2025 County Report

Fires in Maricopa County, AZ

In 2025, fire departments serving Maricopa County responded to 16,747 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.1M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

4,254,255 residents FIPS 04013 537 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
16,747
59,759 across 5 years
Building fires
2,271
747 wildland
Property loss
$55.0M
$40.3M structure · $14.7M contents
Casualties
15 / 2,669
15 civ deaths · 92 civ inj · 2,577 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

16,747
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 2,559 15.3%
Building fires 2,271 13.6%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 1,862 11.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 1,517 9.1%
Hazardous condition, other 1,147 6.8%
All other categories 7,391 44.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Maricopa County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 2,126
Feb 1,665
Mar 1,777
Apr 1,686
May 1,725
Jun 1,626
Jul 1,541
Aug 1,284
Sep 1,001
Oct 966
Nov 728
Dec 622
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Maricopa County

59,759 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 8,817
2022 9,859
2023 10,642
2024 13,694
2025 16,747
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2,271 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
1,940
Cause undetermined
22%
909
Intentional / arson
10%
397
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
538
Under investigation
7%
297
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
40
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $7.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Maricopa County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 20% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,116,726 Tempe Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 Wickenburg Building fires Major
3 $1,000,000 Goodyear Passenger vehicle fire Major
4 $999,999 Wittmann Natural vegetation fire, other Major
5 $789,202 Tempe Building fires Major
6 $645,036 Tempe Building fires Major
7 $600,000 Mesa Building fires Major
8 $600,000 Mesa Aircraft fire Major
9 $600,000 SCOTTSDALE Building fires Major
10 $575,000 Mesa Building fires Major
06 How Maricopa County compares

Maricopa County vs AZ vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Maricopa County
3.94
AZ avg
4.85
US avg
7.15
0.53
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Maricopa County
0.53
AZ avg
0.46
US avg
0.82
3.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Maricopa County
3.5
AZ avg
3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Maricopa County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 04013.

CityPopulation 
Phoenix 1,609,456 View ›
Mesa 503,390 View ›
Chandler 275,618 View ›
Gilbert 267,267 View ›
Glendale 248,083 View ›
Scottsdale 240,537 View ›
Peoria 191,292 View ›
Tempe 181,005 View ›
Surprise 145,591 View ›
Goodyear 97,542 View ›
Buckeye 95,042 View ›
Avondale 89,214 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Maricopa County

4 departments report from this county.

Tempe Fire Administration
Tempe
FDID 08293 870 incidents 159 paid
City of Glendale Fire Department
GLENDALE
FDID 08123 848 incidents 196 paid
Queen Creek Fire Department
Queen Creek
FDID 08220 319 incidents 30 paid
Fort McDowell Fire Department
Fort McDowell
FDID 08131 0 incidents 16 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AZ

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Rodeo-Chediski 2002 USFS 460,563
2 Horseshoe 2 2011 NPS 222,989
3 Bush 2020 USFS 193,603
4 Telegraph 2021 USFS 180,756
5 Woodbury Fire 2019 NPS 123,973
6 Woodbury 2019 USFS 123,832
7 BIGHORN 2020 USFS 119,634
8 Rafael 2021 USFS 78,064
9 MESCAL 2021 BLM 72,250
10 MANGUM 2020 USFS 71,484

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.