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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Oakland, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Oakland responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $825K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A- Peak yr 2023 Alameda County 437,825 residents 0 reporting departments 5,593 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Oakland's departments reported 39 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 1,119 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
39
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
3
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$1.6M
$1.3M structure · $250K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

39
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 7 17.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 5 12.8%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 4 10.3%
Building fires 3 7.7%
Grass fire 3 7.7%
All other categories 17 43.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 2
Feb 6
Mar 2
Apr 2
May 3
Jun 3
Jul 10
Aug 4
Sep 3
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 1
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Oakland

5,593 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $38.1M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 1,438 —
2022* 263 —
2023 2,832 —
2024 1,021 -63.9%
2025* 39 —

* Well below Oakland'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 3 building fires Oakland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
12%
1
Cause undetermined
62%
5
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
25%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Oakland?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,521 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 598 39.3%
2 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 195 12.8%
3 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 172 11.3%
4 Other 114 7.5%
5 Vehicle area, other 105 6.9%
6 Outside area, other 49 3.2%
7 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 45 3.0%
8 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 21 1.4%
9 Exterior, exposed surface 19 1.2%
10 Cooking area, kitchen 15 1.0%
11 All other areas 188 12.4%
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 Oakland mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 1,074 70.6%
2 Heat source: other 174 11.4%
3 Heat from powered equipment, other 47 3.1%
4 Hot or smoldering object, other 46 3.0%
5 Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions 19 1.2%
6 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 17 1.1%
7 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 16 1.1%
8 Arcing 14 0.9%
9 Incendiary device 14 0.9%
10 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 13 0.9%
11 All other sources 87 5.7%
04 The biggest fires

3 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oakland departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $825,000 Building fires Major Investigated
2 $500,000 Building fires Major Investigated
3 $1 Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant Investigated
05 How Oakland compares

Oakland vs California vs the nation

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

0.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Oakland
0.09
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.01
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Oakland
0.01
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Oakland
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Oakland

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 1
10-19 0
20-29 0
30-39 3
40-49 1
50-59 0
60-69 0
70-79 0
80+ 1
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 6 FF 0
Gender
M 3 F 3 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
0
1
0
2
3
3
0
4
3
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Oakland

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 991,530 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 396,624 43.6 mi
2020 Natural 305,651 49.7 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 86,509 36.8 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 56,556 44.9 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 51,624 41.6 mi
1995 Recreation and ceremony 12,354 41.2 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 38.7 mi
2015 Equipment and vehicle use 8,051 49.8 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 7,817 44.4 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 6,804 48.1 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 34.2 mi
2003 Natural 5,018 49.7 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Oakland 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 94607 919
2 94601 882
3 94612 788
4 94621 669
5 94605 431
6 94606 411
7 94603 323
8 94610 285
9 94608 252
10 94609 233
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Oakland

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