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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Saratoga, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Saratoga responded to 57 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 A+ Peak yr 2023 Santa Clara County 30,771 residents 0 reporting departments 478 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Saratoga's departments reported 57 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 96 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
57
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
3
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$2.6M
$2.4M structure · $208K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

57
Total Incidents
Power line down 14 24.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 19.3%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 6 10.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 8.8%
Building fires 3 5.3%
All other categories 18 31.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

Jan 1
Feb 4
Mar 7
Apr 3
May 9
Jun 9
Jul 2
Aug 6
Sep 7
Oct 0
Nov 4
Dec 5
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Saratoga

478 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16.4M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 103 —
2022 95 -7.8%
2023 132 +38.9%
2024 91 -31.1%
2025* 57 —

* Well below Saratoga'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 3 building fires Saratoga departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
62%
8
Cause undetermined
15%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
1
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Saratoga?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 17 20.5%
2 Cooking area, kitchen 10 12.0%
3 Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace 7 8.4%
4 Undetermined 7 8.4%
5 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 5 6.0%
6 Outside area, other 4 4.8%
7 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 3 3.6%
8 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 3 3.6%
9 Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. 3 3.6%
10 Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge 2 2.4%
11 All other areas 22 26.5%
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 Saratoga mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 35 42.2%
2 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 9 10.8%
3 Arcing 9 10.8%
4 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 8 9.6%
5 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 4 4.8%
6 Heat from powered equipment, other 3 3.6%
7 Flame/torch used for lighting 3 3.6%
8 Hot or smoldering object, other 2 2.4%
9 Heat, spark from friction 2 2.4%
10 Cigarette lighter 2 2.4%
11 All other sources 6 7.2%
04 The biggest fires

8 fires · $2.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Saratoga departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $2,000,000 Outside equipment fire Major Investigated
2 $200,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $56,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $50,000 Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant Investigated
5 $45,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
6 $10,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
7 $5,000 Outside storage fire Significant Investigated
8 $5,000 Construction or demolition landfill fire Significant Investigated
05 How Saratoga compares

Saratoga vs California vs the nation

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

1.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Saratoga
1.85
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.1
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Saratoga
0.1
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Saratoga
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Saratoga

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 680,488 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 27.4 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 86,509 10.5 mi
2007 Recreation and ceremony 47,760 29.2 mi
2006 Equipment and vehicle use 34,271 42.0 mi
2003 Natural 30,170 34.4 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 12,200 36.7 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 7,817 12.3 mi
2003 Equipment and vehicle use 6,804 42.8 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 6,744 35.2 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 5,513 32.9 mi
2003 Natural 5,018 35.7 mi
2016 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 4,474 15.4 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Saratoga do fires concentrate?

Top 5 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 95070 472
2 95014 2
3 95129 2
4 95030 1
5 95050 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Saratoga

Six California cities with population within ±25% of Saratoga. 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.