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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Newport Beach, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Newport Beach responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A+ Peak yr 2024 Orange County 85,159 residents 0 reporting departments 394 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Newport Beach's departments reported 28 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 79 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
28
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
11
Residential 64% Other 36%
Property loss
$1K
$500 structure · $500 contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

28
Total Incidents
Building fires 11 39.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 3 10.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 7.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 2 7.1%
Hazardous condition, other 2 7.1%
All other categories 8 28.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 1
Feb 3
Mar 3
Apr 0
May 3
Jun 6
Jul 4
Aug 2
Sep 3
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Newport Beach

394 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 21 —
2022* 37 —
2023* 27 —
2024 281 —
2025* 28 —

* Well below Newport Beach'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 11 building fires Newport Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
50%
1
Cause undetermined
50%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Newport Beach?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 56 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 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 17 30.4%
2 Cooking area, kitchen 6 10.7%
3 Exterior, exposed surface 5 8.9%
4 Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room 3 5.4%
5 Wall surface: exterior 3 5.4%
6 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 3 5.4%
7 Closet 2 3.6%
8 Outside area, other 2 3.6%
9 Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace 2 3.6%
10 Undetermined 2 3.6%
11 All other areas 11 19.6%
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 Newport Beach mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 19 33.9%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 14 25.0%
3 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 7 12.5%
4 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 4 7.1%
5 Arcing 3 5.4%
6 Hot or smoldering object, other 2 3.6%
7 Radiated heat from another fire 2 3.6%
8 Hot ember or ash 1 1.8%
9 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 1 1.8%
10 Cigarette 1 1.8%
11 All other sources 2 3.6%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $500 in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newport Beach departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $500 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Newport Beach compares

Newport Beach vs California vs the nation

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

0.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Newport Beach
0.33
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Newport Beach
0.13
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Newport Beach
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Newport Beach

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 720,484 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2009 Arson/incendiarism 160,371 47.1 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 115,997 44.1 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 59,788 44.2 mi
2002 Arson/incendiarism 37,240 42.7 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 30,305 19.3 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 28,476 14.6 mi
1993 Power generation/transmission/distribution 24,387 49.1 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 23,025 20.7 mi
2018 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 22,000 43.8 mi
1993 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 21,384 23.9 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 21,004 26.3 mi
2002 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 20,857 45.1 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Newport Beach do fires concentrate?

Top 10 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 92660 159
2 92663 110
3 92625 29
4 92657 16
5 92662 12
6 92661 9
7 92626 7
8 92627 2
9 92646 1
10 92677 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Newport Beach

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Newport Beach. 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.