In 2025, fire departments serving Gridley responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
25 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 6 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Gridley'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.
For the 3 building fires Gridley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Gridley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gridley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,956 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 41.9 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Gridley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gridley.
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.