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2025 County Report

Fires in Thurston County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Thurston County responded to 1,869 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $18.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

172,294 residents FIPS 53067 39 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
1,869
11,453 across 5 years
Building fires
237
344 wildland
Property loss
$28.3M
$24.8M structure · $3.5M contents
Casualties
3 / 6
3 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

1,869
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 241 12.9%
Building fires 237 12.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 197 10.5%
Power line down 140 7.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 118 6.3%
All other categories 936 50.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Thurston County?

Jul peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 150
Feb 136
Mar 107
Apr 98
May 115
Jun 160
Jul 247
Aug 214
Sep 170
Oct 173
Nov 128
Dec 171
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Thurston County

11,453 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,372
2022 2,459
2023 2,634
2024 2,119
2025 1,869
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 237 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
131
Cause undetermined
24%
78
Intentional / arson
11%
38
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
48
Under investigation
8%
28
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $21.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Thurston County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $18,000,000 Olympia Forest, woods or wildland fire Catastrophic
2 $600,000 Rainier Building fires Major
3 $600,000 Olympia Building fires Major
4 $500,000 Olympia Building fires Major
5 $400,000 Lacey Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Yelm Building fires Major
7 $220,000 Tumwater Building fires Significant
8 $200,000 Olympia Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Yelm Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 Olympia Building fires Significant
06 How Thurston County compares

Thurston County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Thurston County
10.85
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
1.38
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Thurston County
1.38
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
17.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Thurston County
17.4
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Thurston County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53067.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Thurston County

2 departments report from this county.

Thurston12 S Thurston Fire
Tenino
FDID 34D12 103 incidents 27 vol
Bucoda Fire Department
Bucoda
FDID 34M01 0 incidents 11 vol
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.