Home› California› San Bernardino
2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in San Bernardino, California

In 2025, fire departments serving San Bernardino responded to 114 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B+ Peak yr 2021 San Bernardino County 221,041 residents 0 reporting departments 5,303 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. San Bernardino's departments reported 114 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 1,061 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
114
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
7
Residential 57% Other 43%
Property loss
$872K
$793K structure · $79K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 1
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 1 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

114
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 20 17.5%
Outside rubbish fire, other 19 16.7%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 12 10.5%
Fire, other 9 7.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 8 7.0%
All other categories 46 40.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Nov peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 13
Feb 11
Mar 7
Apr 13
May 0
Jun 11
Jul 13
Aug 7
Sep 13
Oct 12
Nov 14
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in San Bernardino

5,303 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $23.2M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 2,534 —
2022 2,222 -12.3%
2023* 241 —
2024* 192 —
2025* 114 —

* Well below San Bernardino'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 7 building fires San Bernardino departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
32%
10
Cause undetermined
29%
9
Intentional / arson
16%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
2
Under investigation
16%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in San Bernardino?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,008 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 Undetermined 510 50.6%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 130 12.9%
3 Outside area, other 67 6.6%
4 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 31 3.1%
5 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 30 3.0%
6 Vehicle area, other 26 2.6%
7 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 17 1.7%
8 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 15 1.5%
9 Other 14 1.4%
10 Cooking area, kitchen 13 1.3%
11 All other areas 155 15.4%
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 San Bernardino mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 768 76.2%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 43 4.3%
3 Hot or smoldering object, other 41 4.1%
4 Heat source: other 38 3.8%
5 Arcing 31 3.1%
6 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 17 1.7%
7 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 11 1.1%
8 Hot ember or ash 10 1.0%
9 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 10 1.0%
10 Heat, spark from friction 6 0.6%
11 All other sources 33 3.3%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $755K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by San Bernardino departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $250,000 Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Major Investigated
2 $200,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $125,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
4 $100,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
5 $40,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
6 $20,000 Outside storage fire Significant Investigated
7 $10,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
8 $10,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
05 How San Bernardino compares

San Bernardino vs California vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. San Bernardino sits below the national average for incidents per resident.

0.52
Incidents per 1,000 residents
San Bernardino
0.52
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.03
Building fires per 1,000 residents
San Bernardino
0.03
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
San Bernardino
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in San Bernardino

6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.

AgeCount 
0-9 0
10-19 0
20-29 0
30-39 1
40-49 3
50-59 2
60-69 0
70-79 0
80+ 0
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 3 FF 3
Gender
M 4 F 2 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
1
1
1
2
2
3
2
4
0
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of San Bernardino

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 943,170 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 115,997 38.7 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 91,281 4.0 mi
1999 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 65,000 12.6 mi
2006 Natural 61,700 44.2 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 59,788 10.9 mi
2015 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 51,000 22.5 mi
2006 Arson/incendiarism 40,200 34.6 mi
2002 Arson/incendiarism 37,240 28.8 mi
2016 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 36,274 12.7 mi
2020 Equipment and vehicle use 33,424 21.6 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 30,305 31.5 mi
2007 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 28,476 34.7 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in San Bernardino do fires concentrate?

Top 10 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 92404 1,390
2 92410 981
3 92408 768
4 92407 586
5 92411 557
6 92405 515
7 92401 199
8 92346 184
9 92376 60
10 92415 16
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to San Bernardino

Six California cities with population within ±25% of San Bernardino. 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.