In 2025, fire departments serving Oakland responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $524K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | -60.9% | |
| 2024 | 21 | +133.3% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -33.3% |
* 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.
For the 0 building fires Oakland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.7% |
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 source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oakland departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oakland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 887 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 45.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Oakland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oakland.
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.