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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Brentwood, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Brentwood responded to 286 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A- Peak yr 2024 Contra Costa County 64,443 residents 0 reporting departments 1,136 5-yr
Total incidents
286
-0.7% vs 2024
Building fires
13
Residential 62% Other 38%
Property loss
$1.0M
$793K structure · $208K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

286
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 53 18.5%
Outside rubbish fire, other 41 14.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 10.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 20 7.0%
Fire, other 15 5.2%
All other categories 126 44.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 22
Feb 19
Mar 21
Apr 20
May 37
Jun 39
Jul 29
Aug 26
Sep 23
Oct 17
Nov 26
Dec 7
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Brentwood

1,136 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 71 —
2022 218 —
2023 273 +25.2%
2024 288 +5.5%
2025 286 -0.7%

* Well below Brentwood'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 13 building fires Brentwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
9%
5
Cause undetermined
49%
26
Intentional / arson
9%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
11
Under investigation
8%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Brentwood?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 238 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 Undetermined 61 25.6%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 27 11.3%
3 Outside area, other 22 9.2%
4 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 13 5.5%
5 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 12 5.0%
6 Cooking area, kitchen 10 4.2%
7 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 9 3.8%
8 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 9 3.8%
9 Vehicle area, other 8 3.4%
10 Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room 6 2.5%
11 All other areas 61 25.6%
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 Brentwood mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 129 54.2%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 30 12.6%
3 Arcing 16 6.7%
4 Heat source: other 9 3.8%
5 Hot or smoldering object, other 7 2.9%
6 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 6 2.5%
7 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 5 2.1%
8 Cigarette 5 2.1%
9 Hot ember or ash 4 1.7%
10 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 4 1.7%
11 All other sources 23 9.7%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $675K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brentwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $300,000 Building fires Major Investigated
2 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $90,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $50,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
5 $50,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
6 $50,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
7 $20,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
8 $15,000 Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant Investigated
05 How Brentwood compares

Brentwood vs California vs the nation

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

4.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Brentwood
4.44
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Brentwood
0.2
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Brentwood
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Brentwood

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 593,360 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 36.3 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 51,624 42.5 mi
2006 Equipment and vehicle use 34,271 44.1 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,300 44.8 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 23.2 mi
2018 Equipment and vehicle use 11,789 42.9 mi
2015 Equipment and vehicle use 8,051 44.8 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 6,804 29.9 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 20.0 mi
2014 Fireworks 6,488 45.0 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 6,400 46.9 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 5,042 49.2 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Brentwood do fires concentrate?

Top 4 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 90049 196
2 94513 24
3 12345 3
4 94505 3
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Brentwood

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Brentwood. 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.