In 2025, fire departments serving San Jose responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
92 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | +50.0% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -20.8% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +21.1% |
* 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.
For the 2 building fires San Jose departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 7 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Office | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.1% |
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 San Jose mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 72.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by San Jose departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. San Jose sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,855 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 15.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 41.0 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of San Jose. 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.