Dome Fire Reaches 6,632 Acres in Yosemite, 40% Contained as of Oct. 3
The Dome Fire has burned 6,632 acres in Yosemite National Park and is 40% contained as of Oct. 3, with 765 personnel assigned; Glacier Point Road stays closed.
CA
In 2025, fire departments serving Novato responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $135K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.8M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 202 | — | |
| 2022 | 297 | +47.0% | |
| 2023 | 262 | -11.8% | |
| 2024 | 237 | -9.5% | |
| 2025 | 157 | -33.8% |
For the 26 building fires Novato departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 443 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 66 | 14.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 50 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 45 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 40 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 20 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 15 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 107 | 24.2% |
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 Novato mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 235 | 53.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 5.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 20 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 54 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Novato departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $135,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Novato sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 740,461 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 305,651 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 76,825 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 67,484 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,556 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55,209 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51,624 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,807 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,525 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 12,354 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,051 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Fireworks | 6,488 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,731 | 36.4 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six California cities with population within ±25% of Novato. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.