In 2025, fire departments serving Riverside responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
85 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $520K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 23 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | +21.7% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -21.4% |
* Well below Riverside'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 4 building fires Riverside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 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 | 17 | 40.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Closet | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.1% |
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 Riverside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 73.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Riverside departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riverside sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,485 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 31.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35135 | 85 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Riverside. 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.