In 2025, fire departments serving Pomona responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $35K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $60K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -18.2% | |
| 2023 | 17 | +88.9% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* Well below Pomona'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 Pomona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 8 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Pomona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pomona departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $35,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $250 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pomona sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,209 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,500 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,250 | 34.7 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Pomona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pomona.
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.