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2025 County Report

Fires in Whitman County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Whitman County responded to 179 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $864K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

41,281 residents FIPS 53075 85 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
179
1,120 across 5 years
Building fires
11
34 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$1.3M structure · $92K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 39% of all calls.

179
Total Incidents
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 20 11.2%
Cooking fire, confined to container 15 8.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 12 6.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 12 6.7%
Building fires 11 6.1%
All other categories 109 60.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Whitman County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 10
Feb 9
Mar 17
Apr 8
May 17
Jun 8
Jul 28
Aug 27
Sep 23
Oct 18
Nov 11
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Whitman County

1,120 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 268
2022 231
2023 271
2024 171
2025 179
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
22
Cause undetermined
14%
6
Intentional / arson
12%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
4
Under investigation
10%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $864,371 PULLMAN Building fires Major
2 $400,000 MALAGA Building fires Major
3 $20,000 PULLMAN Building fires Significant
4 $5,000 MALAGA Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 PULLMAN Building fires Significant
6 $3,000 PULLMAN Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $2,500 PULLMAN Building fires Significant
8 $2,500 PULLMAN Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,500 PULLMAN Building fires Significant
10 $1,000 PULLMAN Building fires Significant
06 How Whitman County compares

Whitman County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.34
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Whitman County
4.34
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
0.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Whitman County
0.27
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Whitman County
0
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Whitman County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53075.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Whitman County

6 departments report from this county.

Whitman10 Oaksdale
OAKESDALE
FDID 38D10 4 incidents 23 vol
Whitman2 St John
StJohn
FDID 38D02 0 incidents 26 vol
Malden Fire Department
malden
FDID 38M07 0 incidents 10 vol
Palouse Fire Dept
Palouse
FDID 38M09 0 incidents
Saint John Fire Dept
—
FDID 38M12 0 incidents
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.