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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in McKinleyville, California

In 2025, fire departments serving McKinleyville responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $106K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A- Peak yr 2022 Humboldt County 16,913 residents 0 reporting departments 493 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. McKinleyville's departments reported 51 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 99 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
51
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
2
Residential 50% Other 50%
Property loss
$177K
$152K structure · $25K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

51
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 8 15.7%
Special outside fire, other 7 13.7%
Unauthorized burning 4 7.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 5.9%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 3 5.9%
All other categories 26 51.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 6
Feb 6
Mar 6
Apr 3
May 3
Jun 8
Jul 9
Aug 10
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in McKinleyville

493 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.1M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 114 —
2022 115 +0.9%
2023 110 -4.3%
2024 103 -6.4%
2025* 51 —

* Well below McKinleyville'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 2 building fires McKinleyville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
29%
7
Cause undetermined
29%
7
Intentional / arson
25%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
1
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
2
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in McKinleyville?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 264 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 90 34.1%
2 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 38 14.4%
3 Other 17 6.4%
4 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 13 4.9%
5 Outside area, other 13 4.9%
6 Wildland, woods 12 4.5%
7 Cooking area, kitchen 11 4.2%
8 Wall surface: exterior 8 3.0%
9 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 8 3.0%
10 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 8 3.0%
11 All other areas 46 17.4%
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 McKinleyville mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 177 67.0%
2 Arcing 13 4.9%
3 Cigarette lighter 13 4.9%
4 Radiated heat from another fire 8 3.0%
5 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 7 2.7%
6 Hot ember or ash 6 2.3%
7 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 5 1.9%
8 Hot or smoldering object, other 5 1.9%
9 Chemical reaction 5 1.9%
10 Heat spread from another fire, other 4 1.5%
11 All other sources 21 8.0%
04 The biggest fires

5 fires · $152K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by McKinleyville departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $106,493 Building fires Significant Investigated
2 $25,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $20,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $300 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
5 $200 Fires in structures other than in a building Significant Investigated
05 How McKinleyville compares

McKinleyville vs California vs the nation

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

3.02
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McKinleyville
3.02
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McKinleyville
0.12
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
McKinleyville
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in McKinleyville

5 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 1
10-19 0
20-29 1
30-39 0
40-49 1
50-59 0
60-69 1
70-79 0
80+ 1
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 4 FF 1
Gender
M 2 F 3 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
3
1
2
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of McKinleyville

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 832,074 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2020 Natural 142,386 36.8 mi
1999 Natural 124,898 38.5 mi
2015 Natural 68,040 32.8 mi
2006 Natural 66,113 44.8 mi
2008 Natural 65,834 49.5 mi
2008 Natural 38,394 46.4 mi
2015 Natural 34,006 41.0 mi
2008 Natural 31,419 42.2 mi
2015 Natural 27,150 39.6 mi
2008 Natural 25,398 36.0 mi
2008 Natural 25,199 45.7 mi
2008 Natural 24,776 45.1 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in McKinleyville do fires concentrate?

Top 2 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 95519 489
2 95521 4
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to McKinleyville

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