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2025 County Report

Fires in Petersburg Borough, AK

In 2025, fire departments serving Petersburg Borough responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

3,327 residents FIPS 02195 4 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
12
71 across 5 years
Building fires
2
0 wildland
Property loss
$470K
$350K structure · $120K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.

12
Total Incidents
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 3 25.0%
Building fires 2 16.7%
Authorized controlled burning 2 16.7%
Cooking fire, confined to container 1 8.3%
Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined 1 8.3%
All other categories 3 25.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Petersburg Borough?

Jan peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 3
Feb 0
Mar 1
Apr 0
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Petersburg Borough

71 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 19
2022 14
2023 17
2024 9
2025 12
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

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

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
100%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $350K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Petersburg Borough during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Petersburg Census Ar Building fires Major
2 $50,000 Petersburg Census Ar Building fires Significant
06 How Petersburg Borough compares

Petersburg Borough vs AK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Petersburg Borough
3.61
AK avg
8.42
US avg
7.15
0.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Petersburg Borough
0.6
AK avg
1.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Petersburg Borough
0
AK avg
19.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Petersburg Borough

4 cities mapped to FIPS 02195.

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.