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 Palo Alto responded to 220 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 42% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
888 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $18.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 189 | — | |
| 2022* | 59 | — | |
| 2023 | 214 | — | |
| 2024 | 206 | -3.7% | |
| 2025 | 220 | +6.8% |
* Well below Palo Alto'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 29 building fires Palo Alto departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 251 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 | 32 | 12.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 82 | 32.7% |
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 Palo Alto mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 119 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palo Alto departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palo Alto sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 678,881 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 396,624 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 86,509 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 47,760 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 34,271 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 30,170 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,200 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,817 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,804 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,744 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,513 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 5,018 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,474 | 26.1 mi |
Top 10 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 Palo Alto. 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.