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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Placerville, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Placerville responded to 90 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C+ Peak yr 2021 El Dorado County 10,744 residents 0 reporting departments 758 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Placerville's departments reported 90 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 152 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
90
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
5
Residential 60% Other 40%
Property loss
$500
$500 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?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

90
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 26 28.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 14 15.6%
Power line down 11 12.2%
Building fires 5 5.6%
Attempted burning, illegal action, other 5 5.6%
All other categories 29 32.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jun peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 8
Feb 3
Mar 4
Apr 2
May 5
Jun 15
Jul 11
Aug 11
Sep 6
Oct 9
Nov 8
Dec 8
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Placerville

758 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 280 —
2022 131 -53.2%
2023 139 +6.1%
2024 118 -15.1%
2025* 90 —

* Well below Placerville'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 5 building fires Placerville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
38%
3
Cause undetermined
50%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
12%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Placerville?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 85 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 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 20 23.5%
2 Undetermined 13 15.3%
3 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 5 5.9%
4 Cooking area, kitchen 4 4.7%
5 Outside area, other 4 4.7%
6 Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace 3 3.5%
7 Other 2 2.4%
8 Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape 2 2.4%
9 Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge 2 2.4%
10 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 2 2.4%
11 All other areas 28 32.9%
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 Placerville mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 46 54.1%
2 Heat source: other 8 9.4%
3 Heat from powered equipment, other 7 8.2%
4 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 5 5.9%
5 Arcing 5 5.9%
6 Candle 2 2.4%
7 Hot or smoldering object, other 1 1.2%
8 Hot ember or ash 1 1.2%
9 Explosive, fireworks, other 1 1.2%
10 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 1 1.2%
11 All other sources 8 9.4%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $500 in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Placerville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $500 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Placerville compares

Placerville vs California vs the nation

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

8.38
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Placerville
8.38
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Placerville
0.47
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Placerville
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Placerville

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 398,098 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2014 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 97,717 11.4 mi
2015 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 70,868 27.4 mi
2013 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 27,440 28.0 mi
1992 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 24,580 19.0 mi
1992 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 18,000 40.2 mi
2004 Equipment and vehicle use 16,823 34.7 mi
2001 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 16,761 26.7 mi
2001 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 14,280 47.3 mi
2018 Equipment and vehicle use 11,789 47.6 mi
2008 Natural 10,836 30.8 mi
1996 Arson/incendiarism 9,820 20.8 mi
2008 Natural 9,164 34.4 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Placerville do fires concentrate?

Top 3 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 95667 756
2 91006 1
3 95050 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Placerville

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