ZIP 98225 recorded 180 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,601 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Whatcom County, WA. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,601 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 403 | |
| 2022 | 360 | |
| 2023 | 323 | |
| 2024 | 335 | |
| 2025 | 180 |
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 98225 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | 202 | 12.6% | |
| 2 | Outside rubbish fire, other | 192 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Unauthorized burning | 141 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 130 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 92 | 5.7% |
For the 4 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 98225 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 28.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 69 | 31.5% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 120 | 54.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 14 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 24 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 98225 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 5602% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $912,800 | Building fires | 2023 | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Major |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 6 | $180,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 8 | $120,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 98225.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bellingham | 1,601 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,601 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.