Seattle's 911 calls for trash and open fires hit a record in 2026

From January to October 2026, the Seattle Fire Department dispatched 3,809 calls for illegal burns, rubbish fires and encampment fires, the most for those months since its dispatch log began. That is about six times the 2015 to 2018 average of 596 and slightly above 2025 (3,708). Calls for the encampment fire type, first used in 2021, fell from 820 in 2022 to 38 in 2026, while illegal burn calls rose from 1,426 to 2,394, so the total did not fall.

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• Encampment fire call type added (Aug. 2021): Before August 2021, fires at encampments were dispatched under other call types, such as illegal burn or rubbish fire.