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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in San Jose, California

In 2025, fire departments serving San Jose responded to 4,848 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B+ Peak yr 2022 Santa Clara County 1,001,176 residents 0 reporting departments 24,206 5-yr
Total incidents
4,848
-11.7% vs 2024
Building fires
150
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$38.0M
$26.9M structure · $11.1M contents
Deaths & injuries
3 / 3
3 civilian deaths · 2 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 57% of all calls.

4,848
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 1,110 22.9%
Outside rubbish fire, other 933 19.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 270 5.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 228 4.7%
Natural vegetation fire, other 227 4.7%
All other categories 2,080 42.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 504
Feb 330
Mar 392
Apr 331
May 488
Jun 427
Jul 463
Aug 438
Sep 424
Oct 320
Nov 334
Dec 397
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in San Jose

24,206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $147.7M cumulative property loss. 11 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 2,837 —
2022 5,668 —
2023 5,363 -5.4%
2024 5,490 +2.4%
2025 4,848 -11.7%

* Well below San Jose'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 150 building fires San Jose departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
13%
195
Cause undetermined
64%
943
Intentional / arson
12%
177
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
52
Under investigation
6%
88
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
3
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in San Jose?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7,623 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 Outside area, other 1,896 24.9%
2 Undetermined 1,779 23.3%
3 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 692 9.1%
4 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 496 6.5%
5 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 336 4.4%
6 Cooking area, kitchen 318 4.2%
7 Other 233 3.1%
8 Wildland, woods 197 2.6%
9 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 180 2.4%
10 Vehicle area, other 177 2.3%
11 All other areas 1,319 17.3%
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 Jose mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 5,560 72.9%
2 Heat from powered equipment, other 312 4.1%
3 Hot or smoldering object, other 308 4.0%
4 Heat source: other 281 3.7%
5 Arcing 165 2.2%
6 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 124 1.6%
7 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 109 1.4%
8 Hot ember or ash 88 1.2%
9 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 80 1.0%
10 Heat spread from another fire, other 74 1.0%
11 All other sources 522 6.8%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $9.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by San Jose departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 36% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $2,000,000 Building fires Major Investigated
2 $2,000,000 Building fires Major Investigated
3 $2,000,000 Fire, other Major Investigated
4 $1,000,000 Building fires Major Investigated
5 $1,000,000 Building fires Major Investigated
6 $750,000 Passenger vehicle fire Major Investigated
7 $500,000 Fire, other Major Investigated
8 $500,000 Building fires Major Investigated
05 How San Jose compares

San Jose vs California vs the nation

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

4.84
Incidents per 1,000 residents
San Jose
4.84
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
San Jose
0.15
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
3
Civilian fire deaths per million
San Jose
3
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in San Jose

51 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 2
10-19 1
20-29 2
30-39 10
40-49 6
50-59 6
60-69 4
70-79 2
80+ 2
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 38 FF 13
Gender
M 41 F 10 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
14
1
8
2
2
3
9
4
11
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of San Jose

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 680,733 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 396,624 17.6 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 86,509 20.5 mi
2007 Recreation and ceremony 47,760 20.1 mi
2006 Equipment and vehicle use 34,271 31.9 mi
2003 Natural 30,170 28.3 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 28.5 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 7,817 21.6 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 6,804 33.5 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 27.8 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 5,513 26.6 mi
2003 Natural 5,018 25.8 mi
2016 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 4,474 13.6 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in San Jose 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 95112 4,142
2 95111 2,702
3 95117 2,034
4 95126 1,773
5 95110 1,708
6 95122 1,405
7 95127 1,196
8 95119 1,157
9 95128 1,084
10 95132 976
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to San Jose

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