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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Dana Point, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Dana Point responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A+ Peak yr 2021 Orange County 33,025 residents 0 reporting departments 340 5-yr
Total incidents
53
-28.4% vs 2024
Building fires
5
Residential 60% Other 40%
Property loss
$87K
$62K structure · $25K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

53
Total Incidents
Passenger vehicle fire 7 13.2%
Building fires 5 9.4%
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 5 9.4%
Hazardous condition, other 5 9.4%
Fire, other 4 7.5%
All other categories 27 50.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 6
Feb 3
Mar 5
Apr 7
May 12
Jun 2
Jul 8
Aug 3
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 5
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Dana Point

340 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.3M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 83 —
2022 63 -24.1%
2023 67 +6.3%
2024 74 +10.4%
2025 53 -28.4%
03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires Dana Point departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
45%
13
Cause undetermined
41%
12
Intentional / arson
3%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Dana Point?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 180 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 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 25 13.9%
2 Undetermined 24 13.3%
3 Other 20 11.1%
4 Cooking area, kitchen 15 8.3%
5 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 14 7.8%
6 Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste 12 6.7%
7 Outside area, other 12 6.7%
8 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 10 5.6%
9 Vehicle area, other 7 3.9%
10 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 6 3.3%
11 All other areas 35 19.4%
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 Dana Point mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 75 41.7%
2 Hot ember or ash 15 8.3%
3 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 12 6.7%
4 Arcing 10 5.6%
5 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 10 5.6%
6 Hot or smoldering object, other 8 4.4%
7 Heat from powered equipment, other 6 3.3%
8 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 6 3.3%
9 Heat source: other 5 2.8%
10 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 5 2.8%
11 All other sources 28 15.6%
04 The biggest fires

4 fires · $62K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dana Point departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $45,000 Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant Investigated
2 $12,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
3 $3,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $2,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Dana Point compares

Dana Point vs California vs the nation

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

1.6
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Dana Point
1.6
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Dana Point
0.15
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Dana Point
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Dana Point

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.

AgeCount 
0-9 0
10-19 0
20-29 0
30-39 2
40-49 3
50-59 1
60-69 0
70-79 0
80+ 0
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 3 FF 3
Gender
M 6 F 0 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
3
1
2
2
1
3
0
4
0
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Dana Point

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 515,160 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2003 Arson/incendiarism 59,788 49.6 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 56,427 45.5 mi
2007 Other causes 49,390 49.7 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 30,305 27.7 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 28,476 18.9 mi
1993 Power generation/transmission/distribution 24,387 41.7 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 23,025 17.6 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 22,000 48.2 mi
1993 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 21,384 12.0 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 21,004 12.6 mi
1993 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 20,768 47.1 mi
2004 Equipment and vehicle use 16,460 25.0 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Dana Point 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 92629 256
2 92624 82
3 92671 1
4 92677 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Dana Point

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Dana Point. 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.