Dome Fire Reaches 6,632 Acres in Yosemite, 40% Contained as of Oct. 3
The Dome Fire has burned 6,632 acres in Yosemite National Park and is 40% contained as of Oct. 3, with 765 personnel assigned; Glacier Point Road stays closed.
CA
In 2025, fire departments serving Chico responded to 710 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,179 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $946K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 569 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,070 | +88.0% | |
| 2023 | 869 | -18.8% | |
| 2024 | 961 | +10.6% | |
| 2025 | 710 | -26.1% |
For the 26 building fires Chico departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,062 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 | Outside area, other | 268 | 25.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 167 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 134 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 65 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 55 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 40 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 32 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 211 | 19.9% |
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 Chico mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 683 | 64.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 76 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 53 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 41 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 28 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 21 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 76 | 7.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chico departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chico sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,605,445 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 589,368 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 318,776 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 153,336 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 75,431 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60,390 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 55,261 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 47,647 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 44,683 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 34,175 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 27,676 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,344 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19,609 | 20.4 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six California cities with population within ±25% of Chico. 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.