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2025 County Report

Fires in Santa Rosa County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Santa Rosa County responded to 650 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $269K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

150,332 residents FIPS 12113 50 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
650
5,431 across 5 years
Building fires
113
48 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$2.0M structure · $427K contents
Casualties
2 / 1
2 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

650
Total Incidents
Building fires 113 17.4%
Unauthorized burning 93 14.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 74 11.4%
Power line down 39 6.0%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 34 5.2%
All other categories 297 45.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Santa Rosa County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 72
Feb 60
Mar 74
Apr 64
May 71
Jun 51
Jul 57
Aug 52
Sep 46
Oct 41
Nov 45
Dec 17
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Santa Rosa County

5,431 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,342
2022 1,240
2023 1,357
2024 842
2025 650
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 113 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
64
Cause undetermined
23%
36
Intentional / arson
13%
21
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
25
Under investigation
4%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Santa Rosa County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 64% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $269,059 Pace Building fires Major
2 $250,000 Pace Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Milton Building fires Significant
4 $140,732 Pace Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Pace Building fires Significant
6 $99,000 Navarre Beach Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 Milton Building fires Significant
8 $80,000 BAGDAD Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Pace Building fires Significant
10 $67,000 Pace Building fires Significant
06 How Santa Rosa County compares

Santa Rosa County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Santa Rosa County
4.32
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
0.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Santa Rosa County
0.75
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
13.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Santa Rosa County
13.3
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Santa Rosa County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 12113.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Santa Rosa County

16 departments report from this county.

PACE FIRE RESCUE DIST
PACE
FDID 33061 232 incidents 30 vol
CITY OF MILTON FIRE DEPT
Milton
FDID 33012 91 incidents 16 paid
AVALON BEACH FIRE DEPT
Milton
FDID 33071 88 incidents 25 vol
EAST MILTON VOL FIRE DEPT
Milton
FDID 33041 85 incidents 14 vol
GULF BREEZE VOL FIRE DEPT
Gulf Breeze
FDID 33081 37 incidents 30 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.