In 2025, fire departments across District of Columbia responded to 6,867 fire and hazmat incidents — including the PASTURE 1 wildfire that burned 45 acres in 1988.
District of Columbia ranks #54 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 82% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Dec dips.
25,829 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 4,144 | |
| 2023 | 6,794 | |
| 2024 | 8,024 | |
| 2025 | 6,867 |
For the 1,112 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 2,481 | 44 / 2,437 | 15 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 667 | 19 / 648 | 18 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 434 | 2 / 432 | 0 | |
| 4 | Natural (lightning) | 54 | 2 / 52 | 0 | |
| 5 | Other causes | 9 | 0 / 9 | 0 | |
| 6 | Smoking | 7 | 7 / 0 | 1 | |
| 7 | Debris & open burning | 3 | 3 / 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 | 3 / 0 | 2 | |
| 9 | Recreation & ceremony | 3 | 3 / 0 | 0 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leaks | 11,326 | $350 | 0 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 4,924 | $63.6M | 17 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 2,782 | $800 | 0 | |
| 4 | Rubbish / refuse | 2,496 | $187K | 0 | |
| 5 | Outdoor fires | 2,069 | $203K | 0 | |
| 6 | Wildland fires | 1,145 | $86K | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 1,104 | $9.5M | 2 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 815 | $63K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 353 | $193K | 1 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 46% of District of Columbia's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $2,500,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,500,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $750,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $700,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $690,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $500,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $500,000 | WASHINGTON | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare District of Columbia apples-to-apples to the national average.
1 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 1 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 6,865 | 670,587 |
Top 1 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 10.24 | 6,865 | 670,587 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PASTURE 1 | 1988 | NPS | 45 |
| 2 | WISE BEECH | 1971 | NPS | 13 |
| 3 | NUMBER 2 | 1969 | NPS | 13 |
| 4 | Powder Mill Fire | 2018 | NPS | 13 |
| 5 | RILEY | 1963 | NPS | 12 |
| 6 | RIDGE#2 | 1988 | NPS | 8 |
| 7 | D C LINE | 1971 | NPS | 8 |
| 8 | BEACH | 1963 | NPS | 5 |
| 9 | PINEY BRANCH FIRE | 2023 | NPS | 5 |
| 10 | GRANT RD | 1994 | NPS | 4 |
40 perimeters and 149 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 3 | 32 | |
| 1970s | 6 | 25 | |
| 1980s | 2 | 54 | |
| 1990s | 16 | 11 | |
| 2000s | 3 | 1 | |
| 2010s | 2 | 16 | |
| 2020s | 8 | 10 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 43 | |
| 2000s | 10 | |
| 2010s | 29 | |
| 2020s | 1 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 83 ignitions total.
48 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 9 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.