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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Lakeside, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Lakeside responded to 318 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C+ Peak yr 2024 San Diego County 21,759 residents 0 reporting departments 1,497 5-yr
Total incidents
318
-8.1% vs 2024
Building fires
24
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.3M structure · $899K contents
Deaths & injuries
1 / 0
1 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 39% of all calls.

318
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 29 9.1%
Unauthorized burning 28 8.8%
Building fires 24 7.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 6.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 21 6.6%
All other categories 194 61.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 55
Feb 26
Mar 22
Apr 10
May 28
Jun 30
Jul 27
Aug 20
Sep 30
Oct 24
Nov 18
Dec 28
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Lakeside

1,497 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $12.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 204 —
2022 288 +41.2%
2023 341 +18.4%
2024 346 +1.5%
2025 318 -8.1%
03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 24 building fires Lakeside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
25%
14
Cause undetermined
33%
18
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
9
Under investigation
20%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Lakeside?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 340 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 72 21.2%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 65 19.1%
3 Outside area, other 36 10.6%
4 Cooking area, kitchen 22 6.5%
5 Other 19 5.6%
6 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 15 4.4%
7 Vehicle area, other 13 3.8%
8 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 10 2.9%
9 Storage area, other 8 2.4%
10 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 7 2.1%
11 All other areas 73 21.5%
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 Lakeside mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 172 50.6%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 28 8.2%
3 Arcing 22 6.5%
4 Hot or smoldering object, other 15 4.4%
5 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 13 3.8%
6 Heat source: other 12 3.5%
7 Cigarette lighter 12 3.5%
8 Hot ember or ash 11 3.2%
9 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 7 2.1%
10 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 6 1.8%
11 All other sources 42 12.4%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $1.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lakeside departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $500,000 Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Major Investigated
2 $300,000 Building fires Major Investigated
3 $300,000 Building fires Major Investigated
4 $278,780 Building fires Major Investigated
5 $115,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
6 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
7 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
8 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Lakeside compares

Lakeside vs California vs the nation

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

14.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lakeside
14.61
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
1.1
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lakeside
1.1
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
46
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lakeside
46
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Lakeside

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

Wildfires within 50 mi of Lakeside

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 995,371 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2003 Recreation and ceremony 280,059 13.6 mi
2007 Power generation/transmission/distribution 197,990 18.8 mi
2007 Recreation and ceremony 90,440 25.5 mi
2002 Equipment and vehicle use 61,690 25.6 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 56,427 27.8 mi
2007 Other causes 49,390 29.2 mi
2003 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 47,921 21.5 mi
1993 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 20,768 21.3 mi
2003 Natural 19,575 40.9 mi
2006 Recreation and ceremony 16,677 15.3 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 16,390 13.8 mi
1996 Recreation and ceremony 14,720 15.1 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Lakeside do fires concentrate?

Top 5 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 92040 1,033
2 92021 448
3 91901 11
4 92065 4
5 93456 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Lakeside

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