Home› California› Commerce
2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Commerce, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Commerce responded to 683 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade D Peak yr 2024 Los Angeles County 12,253 residents 0 reporting departments 2,806 5-yr
Total incidents
683
-12.2% vs 2024
Building fires
13
Residential 62% Other 38%
Property loss
$365K
$234K structure · $131K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.

683
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 453 66.3%
Outside rubbish fire, other 62 9.1%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 37 5.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 36 5.3%
Hazardous condition, other 19 2.8%
All other categories 76 11.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 69
Feb 48
Mar 45
Apr 41
May 62
Jun 55
Jul 80
Aug 82
Sep 51
Oct 64
Nov 50
Dec 36
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Commerce

2,806 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 206 —
2022 412 —
2023 727 +76.5%
2024 778 +7.0%
2025 683 -12.2%

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

Unintentional
39%
27
Cause undetermined
36%
25
Intentional / arson
11%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
5
Under investigation
3%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Commerce?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 376 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 100 26.6%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 64 17.0%
3 Vehicle area, other 30 8.0%
4 Other 29 7.7%
5 Outside area, other 27 7.2%
6 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 22 5.9%
7 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 18 4.8%
8 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 17 4.5%
9 Cooking area, kitchen 6 1.6%
10 Storage area, other 5 1.3%
11 All other areas 58 15.4%
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 Commerce mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 149 39.6%
2 Heat source: other 46 12.2%
3 Heat from powered equipment, other 38 10.1%
4 Arcing 34 9.0%
5 Hot or smoldering object, other 32 8.5%
6 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 13 3.5%
7 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 10 2.7%
8 Heat from undetermined smoking material 7 1.9%
9 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 6 1.6%
10 Radiated heat from another fire 5 1.3%
11 All other sources 36 9.6%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $226K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Commerce departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
2 $40,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $20,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $20,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
5 $20,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
6 $12,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
7 $8,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
8 $6,000 Fire, other Significant Investigated
05 How Commerce compares

Commerce vs California vs the nation

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

55.74
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Commerce
55.74
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
1.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Commerce
1.06
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Commerce
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Commerce

5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.

AgeCount 
0-9 0
10-19 0
20-29 0
30-39 0
40-49 0
50-59 2
60-69 0
70-79 1
80+ 2
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 5 FF 0
Gender
M 3 F 2 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
2
1
0
2
2
3
0
4
1
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Commerce

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,128,144 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2009 Arson/incendiarism 160,371 17.1 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 115,997 20.6 mi
2003 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 108,204 39.9 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 96,949 35.6 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 63,720 48.5 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 59,788 40.2 mi
2016 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 41,432 33.2 mi
2007 Misuse of fire by a minor 38,356 38.0 mi
1993 Arson/incendiarism 38,152 42.6 mi
2002 Arson/incendiarism 37,240 26.4 mi
2016 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 36,274 43.5 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 30,305 25.2 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Commerce do fires concentrate?

Top 8 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 90023 1,796
2 90040 731
3 90022 214
4 90640 43
5 90240 7
6 90660 7
7 90201 6
8 90058 2
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Commerce

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