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 Pala responded to 35 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
May peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $343K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 35 | — |
* Well below Pala'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 1 building fires Pala departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 5 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Pala mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pala departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pala sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,100,801 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 280,059 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 197,990 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61,690 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 56,427 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Other causes | 49,390 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 40,200 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33,424 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,476 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,164 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 27,531 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 24,387 | 22.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,455 | 46.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Pala. 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.