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2025 County Report

Fires in Yakima County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Yakima County responded to 1,409 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

187,970 residents FIPS 53077 58 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
1,409
10,059 across 5 years
Building fires
239
274 wildland
Property loss
$14.2M
$11.2M structure · $3.1M contents
Casualties
1 / 3
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

1,409
Total Incidents
Building fires 239 17.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 136 9.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 131 9.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 79 5.6%
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 79 5.6%
All other categories 745 52.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Yakima County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 111
Feb 81
Mar 106
Apr 89
May 157
Jun 147
Jul 174
Aug 99
Sep 113
Oct 111
Nov 106
Dec 115
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Yakima County

10,059 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,407
2022 2,351
2023 2,623
2024 1,269
2025 1,409
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 239 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
138
Cause undetermined
21%
84
Intentional / arson
11%
46
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
84
Under investigation
8%
33
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
15
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Yakima County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Selah Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Major
2 $1,000,000 Yakima Fires in structures other than in a building Major
3 $900,000 Sunnyside Building fires Major
4 $536,000 Yakima Building fires Major
5 $400,000 Yakima Building fires Major
6 $350,000 Yakima Building fires Major
7 $350,000 Yakima Building fires Major
8 $300,000 Yakima Building fires Major
9 $300,000 Yakima Building fires Major
10 $250,000 Yakima Building fires Major
06 How Yakima County compares

Yakima County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Yakima County
7.5
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
1.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Yakima County
1.27
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
5.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Yakima County
5.3
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Yakima County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53077.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Yakima County

4 departments report from this county.

Sunnyside Fire Dept
Sunnyside
FDID 39M06 142 incidents 12 paid 27 vol
Yakima1 Highland
Cowiche
FDID 39D01 37 incidents 13 vol
Mabton Fire Department
Mabton
FDID 39M03 22 incidents
Yakima9 Naches Heights
Yakima
FDID 39D09 0 incidents 24 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.