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2025 State Fire Report

Fires in Washington

In 2025, fire departments across Washington responded to 53,238 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Carlton wildfire that burned 230,102 acres in 2014.

6,408,638 residents 39 counties 1,990 reporting cities 24 active

National context

Where Washington sits

Washington ranks #8 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.

<100k100k+1M+5M+15M+ None on record

Total acres burned (NIFC perimeter history)

Total incidents

53,238

294,640 across 5 years

Building fires

4,451

8.4% of all incidents

Wildland fires

9,317

10 historical perimeters on record

Casualties

28 / 111

28 civ deaths · 52 civ inj · 59 ff inj

01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen in Washington?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 42% of all calls.

53,238

Total Incidents

Unauthorized burning 7,130 13.4%

Building fires 4,451 8.4%

Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 4,172 7.8%

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4,019 7.5%

Power line down 2,817 5.3%

All other categories 30,649 57.6%

02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jul peaks. Mar dips. (Latest year: 2025.)

Jan 3,675

Feb 3,469

Mar 3,220

Apr 3,590

May 4,326

Jun 5,276

Jul 7,736

Aug 5,219

Sep 4,919

Oct 4,710

Nov 3,322

Dec 3,776

03 Smoothed seasonality

Average monthly fires 2021–2025

5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Feb dips.

Jan 20,758

Feb 18,483

Mar 20,857

Apr 22,037

May 23,164

Jun 26,768

Jul 40,108

Aug 31,594

Sep 25,741

Oct 23,511

Nov 22,129

Dec 19,490

04 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington

294,640 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.

Year	Incidents
2021	63,637
2022	62,099
2023	63,898
2024	51,768
2025	53,238

05 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires in Washington?

For the 4,451 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional

42%

4,863

Cause undetermined

25%

2,931

Intentional / arson

11%

1,331

Equipment / heat source failure

1,061

Under investigation

11%

1,303

Act of nature (lightning)

184

5b Causes by category

Top ignition causes in Washington

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	32,742	6,383 / 26,359	2,037,709
2	Arson / incendiarism	15,820	1,736 / 14,084	193,086
3	Natural (lightning)	12,056	10,812 / 1,244	3,047,571
4	Equipment & vehicle use	8,976	1,901 / 7,075	841,987
5	Recreation & ceremony	7,554	7,554 / 0	139,971
6	Debris & open burning	6,755	6,755 / 0	147,061
7	Fireworks	1,844	1,844 / 0	33,915
8	Smoking	1,087	1,087 / 0	94,485
9	Other causes	929	615 / 314	27,146
10	Misuse of fire by a minor	911	911 / 0	6,857
11	Power generation / utility	791	791 / 0	284,179
12	Railroad operations	329	329 / 0	43,772

5c Topics

Cross-cutting fire topics in Washington

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	125,508	$205.5M	5
2	Building fires	51,474	$1.2B	177
3	Wildland fires	50,868	$203.3M	5
4	Rubbish / refuse	40,451	$4.8M	0
5	Electrical / wiring	30,623	$1.3M	0
6	Gas leaks	23,101	$28K	0
7	Vehicle fires	18,609	$360.5M	36
8	Cooking-related	12,231	$2.0M	0
9	Arson	9,081	$22.0M	4

06 The biggest fires

10 fires · $66.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 20% of Washington's total.

#	Property loss	City	Type	Severity
1	$20,000,000	SEATTLE	Building fires	Catastrophic
2	$18,000,000	Olympia	Forest, woods or wildland fire	Catastrophic
3	$6,000,000	EASTON	Aircraft fire	Catastrophic
4	$5,000,000	Clarkston	Building fires	Catastrophic
5	$5,000,000	BNCO	Building fires	Catastrophic
6	$3,000,000	ANACORTES	Building fires	Major
7	$3,000,000	Spokane Valley	Rail vehicle fire	Major
8	$2,245,860	AUBURN	Building fires	Major
9	$2,200,000	Longview	Building fires	Major
10	$2,100,000	RIVERSIDE	Forest, woods or wildland fire	Major

07 How Washington compares

Washington vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare Washington apples-to-apples to the national average.

8.31

Incidents per 1,000 residents

8.31

US avg

7.48

0.69

Building fires per 1,000 residents

0.69

US avg

0.85

4.4

Civilian fire deaths per million

4.4

US avg

5.9

08 Cities

Top cities in Washington

12 largest reporting cities by population.

Seattle B

6,485 incidents 217 building $38.1M loss

Spokane B-

2,382 incidents 154 building $9.9M loss

Tacoma C+

2,759 incidents 112 building $6.7M loss

Vancouver B

2,074 incidents 110 building $8.8M loss

Bellevue A-

505 incidents 37 building $3.0M loss

Kent B

1,096 incidents 94 building $5.3M loss

Everett C+

1,372 incidents 139 building $6.0M loss

Renton B

841 incidents 52 building $3.9M loss

Spokane Valley B+

176 incidents 19 building $4.4M loss

Federal Way B

810 incidents 60 building $3.4M loss

Yakima B

912 incidents 125 building $6.7M loss

Kirkland A+

255 incidents 45 building $1.5M loss

09 Counties

Top counties in Washington

Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.

#	County	Incidents	Population
1	King County	15,045	2,232,809
2	Pierce County	6,702	869,413
3	Snohomish County	4,773	728,907
4	Spokane County	3,295	408,444
5	Clark County	3,053	435,065
6	Kitsap County	2,133	188,242
7	Thurston County	1,869	172,294
8	Benton County	1,763	176,721
9	Yakima County	1,409	187,970
10	Skagit County	1,332	82,111

10 Per-capita

Highest fire rates by county

Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.

#	County	Inc / 1k	Incidents	Population
1	Grays Harbor County	16.43	940	57,209
2	Skagit County	16.22	1,332	82,111
3	Grant County	15.49	1,065	68,763
4	Cowlitz County	11.74	866	73,750
5	Kitsap County	11.33	2,133	188,242
6	Thurston County	10.85	1,869	172,294
7	Island County	10.44	530	50,757
8	Walla Walla County	10.13	534	52,708
9	Benton County	9.98	1,763	176,721
10	Chelan County	8.52	450	52,846

11 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington

By incident count in 2025.

Seattle Fire Dept

Seattle

FDID 17M15 6,280 incidents 1,018 paid

Tacoma Fire Dept

Tacoma

FDID 27M16 2,419 incidents 412 paid

Spokane Fire Dept

Spokane

FDID 32M10 2,119 incidents 316 paid

Pierce Co FD6 Central Pierce Fire Rescue

—

FDID 27D06 1,990 incidents

Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority

—

FDID 17M08 1,732 incidents

12 Largest fires on record

Top 10 wildfires in Washington history

By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.

#	Name	Year	Agency	Acres
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

13 Decade by decade

Wildfire perimeters in Washington, by decade

977 perimeters and 4,178,996 acres recorded since 1900.

Decade	Fires	Acres
1900s	4	77,151
1960s	3	135
1970s	4	326
1980s	8	3,707
1990s	12	58,743
2000s	104	379,604
2010s	441	2,781,496
2020s	401	877,834

14 Cause shift over time

How wildfire causes have shifted in Washington

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	11,035
2000s	14,285
2010s	13,931
2020s	1,525

Natural Recreation and ceremony Debris and open burning Missing data/not specified/undetermined Equipment and vehicle use Fireworks Arson/incendiarism Other

15 Wildfire seasonality

When wildfires ignite in Washington

FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 40,776 ignitions total.

Jan 72

Feb 213

Mar 880

Apr 1,657

May 2,536

Jun 4,768

Jul 11,919

Aug 11,093

Sep 5,269

Oct 1,943

Nov 379

Dec 47

16 Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Washington

1,167 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	43
10-19	40
20-29	147
30-39	189
40-49	185
50-59	153
60-69	116
70-79	61
80+	29

Civilian vs firefighter

Civilian 785 FF 382

Gender

M 859 F 308 Unk 0

Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)

417

219

148

142

226

About this data

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.