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2025 County Report

Fires in San Juan County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving San Juan County responded to 182 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,400 residents FIPS 53055 23 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
182
863 across 5 years
Building fires
13
24 wildland
Property loss
$724K
$611K structure · $113K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

182
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 30 16.5%
Authorized controlled burning 27 14.8%
Power line down 15 8.2%
Building fires 13 7.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 13 7.1%
All other categories 84 46.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in San Juan County?

Aug peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 5
Feb 8
Mar 14
Apr 8
May 15
Jun 18
Jul 20
Aug 31
Sep 16
Oct 24
Nov 15
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in San Juan County

863 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 224
2022 197
2023 170
2024 90
2025 182
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 13 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
11
Cause undetermined
11%
3
Intentional / arson
18%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
5
Under investigation
11%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $609K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 LOPEZ ISLAND Building fires Major
2 $50,000 LOPEZ ISLAND Building fires Significant
3 $25,000 FRIDAY HARBOR Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 Friday Harbor Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 Friday Harbor Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Friday Harbor Building fires Significant
7 $3,000 FRIDAY HARBOR Building fires Significant
8 $3,000 Friday Harbor Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
9 $2,000 FRIDAY HARBOR Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $1,000 Lopez Island Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How San Juan County compares

San Juan County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

53.53
Incidents per 1,000 residents
San Juan County
53.53
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
3.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
San Juan County
3.82
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
San Juan County
0
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in San Juan County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53055.

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.