Dome Fire Reaches 6,632 Acres in Yosemite, 40% Contained as of Oct. 3
The Dome Fire has burned 6,632 acres in Yosemite National Park and is 40% contained as of Oct. 3, with 765 personnel assigned; Glacier Point Road stays closed.
CA
In 2025, fire departments serving Hercules responded to 52 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
111 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $261K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | +20.0% | |
| 2025 | 52 | +188.9% |
* Well below Hercules'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 4 building fires Hercules departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Egress/exit, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Hercules mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hercules departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hercules sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 614,529 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 305,651 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 67,484 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,556 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51,624 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,807 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 12,354 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,200 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,051 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,744 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Fireworks | 6,488 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,731 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,731 | 35.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 94547 | 31 |
Six California cities with population within ±25% of Hercules. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.