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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Fresno, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Fresno responded to 7,510 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B- Peak yr 2022 Fresno County 541,528 residents 0 reporting departments 26,883 5-yr
Total incidents
7,510
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
375
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$28.4M
$22.8M structure · $5.6M contents
Deaths & injuries
1 / 16
1 civilian deaths · 4 civ injuries · 12 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 64% of all calls.

7,510
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 2,963 39.5%
Grass fire 725 9.7%
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 430 5.7%
Building fires 375 5.0%
Unauthorized burning 325 4.3%
All other categories 2,692 35.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 945
Feb 683
Mar 679
Apr 650
May 741
Jun 733
Jul 747
Aug 560
Sep 504
Oct 578
Nov 652
Dec 38
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Fresno

26,883 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $88.9M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 4,964 —
2022 9,418 +89.7%
2023 4,201 -55.4%
2024* 790 —
2025 7,510 —

* Well below Fresno'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 375 building fires Fresno departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
21%
370
Cause undetermined
54%
935
Intentional / arson
16%
275
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
102
Under investigation
2%
40
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
7
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Fresno?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6,438 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 1,474 22.9%
2 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 991 15.4%
3 Outside area, other 766 11.9%
4 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 725 11.3%
5 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 558 8.7%
6 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 286 4.4%
7 Vehicle area, other 152 2.4%
8 Cooking area, kitchen 126 2.0%
9 Exterior, exposed surface 112 1.7%
10 Other 96 1.5%
11 All other areas 1,152 17.9%
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 Fresno mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 4,568 71.0%
2 Arcing 251 3.9%
3 Heat from powered equipment, other 201 3.1%
4 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 149 2.3%
5 Hot ember or ash 128 2.0%
6 Incendiary device 128 2.0%
7 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 120 1.9%
8 Heat source: other 111 1.7%
9 Hot or smoldering object, other 103 1.6%
10 Cigarette lighter 95 1.5%
11 All other sources 584 9.1%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $6.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fresno departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 27% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $2,000,000 Fires in structures other than in a building Major Investigated
2 $1,000,000 Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Major Investigated
3 $750,000 Building fires Major Investigated
4 $635,000 Building fires Major Investigated
5 $510,200 Building fires Major Investigated
6 $500,000 Building fires Major Investigated
7 $419,000 Building fires Major Investigated
8 $400,000 Grass fire Major Investigated
05 How Fresno compares

Fresno vs California vs the nation

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

13.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Fresno
13.87
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Fresno
0.69
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
1.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Fresno
1.8
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Fresno

71 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 8
30-39 6
40-49 22
50-59 20
60-69 8
70-79 5
80+ 2
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 36 FF 35
Gender
M 61 F 10 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
29
1
16
2
8
3
10
4
8
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Fresno

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 677,572 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 379,895 40.8 mi
2015 Natural 151,623 49.6 mi
2013 Natural 22,992 43.1 mi
1996 Power generation/transmission/distribution 18,340 49.8 mi
2014 Recreation and ceremony 13,837 42.3 mi
2016 Arson/incendiarism 13,349 21.9 mi
2017 Power generation/transmission/distribution 12,407 46.7 mi
2006 Natural 8,400 46.7 mi
2015 Arson/incendiarism 5,702 36.6 mi
1996 Arson/incendiarism 5,607 27.3 mi
2005 Equipment and vehicle use 5,514 42.4 mi
1994 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 5,250 40.3 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Fresno do fires concentrate?

Top 10 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 93706 4,807
2 93722 2,462
3 93702 2,347
4 93727 2,192
5 93726 1,956
6 93721 1,907
7 93725 1,795
8 93703 1,783
9 93701 1,379
10 93728 1,236
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Fresno

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