In 2025, fire departments serving California responded to 155 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
993 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 192 | — | |
| 2022 | 207 | +7.8% | |
| 2023 | 199 | -3.9% | |
| 2024 | 240 | +20.6% | |
| 2025 | 155 | -35.4% |
For the 27 building fires California departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 187 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 origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 15.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 26 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 7.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 15.5% |
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 California mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 106 | 56.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by California departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. California sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,206 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 28.6 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of California. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
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.