In 2025, fire departments serving Irvine responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $28K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Irvine's departments reported 134 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 271 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,354 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $513K cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 357 | — | |
| 2022 | 351 | -1.7% | |
| 2023 | 267 | -23.9% | |
| 2024 | 245 | -8.2% | |
| 2025* | 134 | — |
* Well below Irvine'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 46 building fires Irvine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 307 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 | Undetermined | 92 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 56 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 22 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 15.0% |
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 Irvine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 188 | 61.2% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 24 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 6.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Irvine departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $28,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Irvine sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,003 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,406 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,200 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 4.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 47.7 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Irvine. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Irvine.
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.