Home› California› Aptos
2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Aptos, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Aptos responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C+ Peak yr 2023 Santa Cruz County 6,614 residents 0 reporting departments 772 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Aptos's departments reported 14 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 154 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
14
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
3
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$55K
$50K structure · $5K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.

14
Total Incidents
Building fires 3 21.4%
Power line down 3 21.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 14.3%
Grass fire 2 14.3%
Authorized controlled burning 2 14.3%
All other categories 2 14.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 0
Feb 1
Mar 1
Apr 1
May 1
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 0
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 4
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Aptos

772 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.4M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 173 —
2022 173 +0.0%
2023 222 +28.3%
2024 190 -14.4%
2025* 14 —

* Well below Aptos's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires Aptos departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Aptos?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 167 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.

#Area of originCountShare 
1 Outside area, other 33 19.8%
2 Cooking area, kitchen 23 13.8%
3 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 16 9.6%
4 Wildland, woods 12 7.2%
5 Other 9 5.4%
6 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 9 5.4%
7 Undetermined 8 4.8%
8 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 7 4.2%
9 Wall assembly 6 3.6%
10 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 5 3.0%
11 All other areas 39 23.4%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Aptos mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 76 45.5%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 18 10.8%
3 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 11 6.6%
4 Hot or smoldering object, other 10 6.0%
5 Heat source: other 8 4.8%
6 Arcing 8 4.8%
7 Hot ember or ash 6 3.6%
8 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 6 3.6%
9 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 5 3.0%
10 Cigarette lighter 4 2.4%
11 All other sources 15 9.0%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $50K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Aptos departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $50,000 Grass fire Significant Investigated
05 How Aptos compares

Aptos vs California vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Aptos sits below the national average for incidents per resident.

2.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Aptos
2.12
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.45
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Aptos
0.45
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Aptos
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Aptos

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 858,236 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 396,624 34.9 mi
2016 Recreation and ceremony 132,127 36.6 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 86,509 25.7 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 48,088 32.7 mi
2007 Recreation and ceremony 47,760 26.3 mi
2006 Equipment and vehicle use 34,271 44.0 mi
2003 Natural 30,170 21.7 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 48.4 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 7,817 19.6 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 6,905 39.4 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 48.6 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 5,513 21.1 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Aptos do fires concentrate?

Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 95003 643
2 95076 129
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Aptos

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Aptos. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.