In 2025, fire departments across Hawaii responded to 5,371 fire and hazmat incidents — including the LUHI FIRE wildfire that burned 4,943 acres in 2003.
Hawaii ranks #37 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 61% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Aug peaks across the window; Nov dips.
31,091 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,787 | |
| 2022 | 5,946 | |
| 2023 | 7,128 | |
| 2024 | 6,859 | |
| 2025 | 5,371 |
For the 267 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 | 13,761 | 9,783 / 3,978 | 272,880 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 715 | 15 / 700 | 14,430 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 550 | 19 / 531 | 13,411 | |
| 4 | Natural (lightning) | 83 | 44 / 39 | 18,239 | |
| 5 | Recreation & ceremony | 76 | 76 / 0 | 10,845 | |
| 6 | Other causes | 73 | 2 / 71 | 0 | |
| 7 | Debris & open burning | 15 | 15 / 0 | 2,535 | |
| 8 | Smoking | 8 | 8 / 0 | 5 | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 4 | 4 / 0 | 123 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 3 | 3 / 0 | 560 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 1 | 1 / 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 | Outdoor fires | 13,628 | $11.5M | 2 | |
| 2 | Rubbish / refuse | 7,587 | $367K | 1 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 5,207 | $11.3M | 1 | |
| 4 | Building fires | 4,705 | $143.3M | 18 | |
| 5 | Vehicle fires | 3,159 | $12.4M | 9 | |
| 6 | Electrical / wiring | 2,844 | $3K | 0 | |
| 7 | Gas leaks | 1,475 | $500 | 0 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 1,368 | $54K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 64 | $25K | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 41% of Hawaii's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,092,000 | KAILUA | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,492,000 | KALIHI | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,179,000 | Honolulu | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $800,000 | KAMUELA | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major |
| 5 | $786,000 | Honolulu | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $736,000 | NANAKULI | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $701,000 | MANOA | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $700,000 | HONOLULU | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $670,000 | WAIANAE | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $668,000 | AIEA | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Hawaii apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 5 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honolulu County | 3,756 | 979,260 |
| 2 | Hawaii County | 1,122 | 155,946 |
| 3 | Kauai County | 461 | 68,930 |
| 4 | Kalawao County | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Maui County | 0 | 160,085 |
Top 3 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii County | 7.19 | 1,122 | 155,946 | |
| 2 | Kauai County | 6.69 | 461 | 68,930 | |
| 3 | Honolulu County | 3.84 | 3,756 | 979,260 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
85 perimeters and 11,790 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4 | 55 | |
| 1980s | 19 | 1,347 | |
| 1990s | 29 | 1,749 | |
| 2000s | 13 | 8,377 | |
| 2010s | 5 | 119 | |
| 2020s | 15 | 143 |
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 | 165 | |
| 2000s | 7,364 | |
| 2010s | 2,433 | |
| 2020s | 8 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 9,970 ignitions total.
366 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 39 | |
| 30-39 | 102 | |
| 40-49 | 97 | |
| 50-59 | 90 | |
| 60-69 | 10 | |
| 70-79 | 15 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
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.