In 2025, fire departments serving Norco responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
127 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 36 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | -19.4% | |
| 2024 | 32 | +10.3% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -15.6% |
* Well below Norco'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 Norco departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 67 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 | 15 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 16.4% |
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 Norco mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 45 | 67.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norco departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norco sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,512 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,922 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,500 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 5.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 725 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 641 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 570 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 520 | 35.8 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Norco. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norco.
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.