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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Orinda, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Orinda responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A+ Peak yr 2021 Contra Costa County 19,477 residents 0 reporting departments 125 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Orinda's departments reported 13 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 25 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
13
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
1
Residential 0% Other 100%
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

13
Total Incidents
Passenger vehicle fire 3 23.1%
Prescribed fire 3 23.1%
Fire, other 1 7.7%
Building fires 1 7.7%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 7.7%
All other categories 4 30.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

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

Year over year in Orinda

125 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $35K cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 50 —
2022 16 -68.0%
2023 17 +6.2%
2024 29 +70.6%
2025* 13 —

* Well below Orinda'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 1 building fires Orinda departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
25%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Orinda?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 11 42.3%
2 Outside area, other 6 23.1%
3 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 4 15.4%
4 Cooking area, kitchen 1 3.8%
5 Laundry area, wash house (laundry) 1 3.8%
6 Vehicle area, other 1 3.8%
7 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 1 3.8%
8 Wildland, woods 1 3.8%
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 Orinda mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 15 57.7%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 4 15.4%
3 Hot or smoldering object, other 3 11.5%
4 Heat source: other 2 7.7%
5 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 1 3.8%
6 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 1 3.8%
05 How Orinda compares

Orinda vs California vs the nation

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

0.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Orinda
0.67
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.05
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Orinda
0.05
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Orinda
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Orinda

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 995,875 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 46.0 mi
2020 Natural 305,651 43.9 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 86,509 43.1 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 56,556 39.8 mi
2017 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 51,624 35.5 mi
1995 Recreation and ceremony 12,354 40.4 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 39.0 mi
2015 Equipment and vehicle use 8,051 43.3 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 6,804 48.2 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 34.5 mi
2014 Fireworks 6,488 43.8 mi
2000 Equipment and vehicle use 5,731 46.6 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Orinda do fires concentrate?

Top 2 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 94563 34
2 94546 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Orinda

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