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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Daly City, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Daly City responded to 140 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A- Peak yr 2023 San Mateo County 103,648 residents 0 reporting departments 1,423 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Daly City's departments reported 140 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 285 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
140
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
11
Residential 64% Other 36%
Property loss
$723K
$474K structure · $249K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

140
Total Incidents
Cooking fire, confined to container 20 14.3%
Hazardous condition, other 15 10.7%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 14 10.0%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 12 8.6%
Building fires 11 7.9%
All other categories 68 48.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Nov peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 13
Feb 14
Mar 5
Apr 8
May 8
Jun 6
Jul 9
Aug 9
Sep 6
Oct 17
Nov 30
Dec 15
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Daly City

1,423 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 303 —
2022 289 -4.6%
2023 368 +27.3%
2024 323 -12.2%
2025* 140 —

* Well below Daly City'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 11 building fires Daly City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
32%
8
Cause undetermined
36%
9
Intentional / arson
8%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
3
Under investigation
12%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Daly City?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 583 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 120 20.6%
2 Cooking area, kitchen 104 17.8%
3 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 42 7.2%
4 Undetermined 42 7.2%
5 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 41 7.0%
6 Other 34 5.8%
7 Vehicle area, other 23 3.9%
8 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 20 3.4%
9 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 19 3.3%
10 Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste 14 2.4%
11 All other areas 124 21.3%
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 Daly City mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 287 49.2%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 59 10.1%
3 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 37 6.3%
4 Heat source: other 30 5.1%
5 Cigarette lighter 27 4.6%
6 Hot or smoldering object, other 21 3.6%
7 Hot ember or ash 18 3.1%
8 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 17 2.9%
9 Arcing 15 2.6%
10 Cigarette 14 2.4%
11 All other sources 58 9.9%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $430K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Daly City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $200,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
2 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $50,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
4 $25,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
5 $20,000 Outside storage fire Significant Investigated
6 $15,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
7 $10,090 Building fires Significant Investigated
8 $10,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
05 How Daly City compares

Daly City vs California vs the nation

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

1.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Daly City
1.35
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.11
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Daly City
0.11
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Daly City
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Daly City

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 208,895 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 86,509 32.6 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 56,556 49.9 mi
1995 Recreation and ceremony 12,354 35.3 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 7,817 40.2 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 46.8 mi
2020 Natural 4,929 30.6 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 4,270 48.0 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 4,200 44.7 mi
2013 Firearms and explosives use 3,100 35.8 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 3,000 44.0 mi
2015 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 2,850 48.8 mi
1996 Equipment and vehicle use 2,207 46.4 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Daly City do fires concentrate?

Top 6 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 94014 1,175
2 94015 241
3 94005 3
4 94134 2
5 94044 1
6 94112 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Daly City

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Daly City. 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.