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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Soledad, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Soledad responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade A+ Peak yr 2021 Monterey County 24,781 residents 0 reporting departments 334 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Soledad's departments reported 32 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 67 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
32
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
2
Residential 50% Other 50%
Property loss
$255K
$233K structure · $22K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Grass fire 6 18.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 9.4%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 3 9.4%
Natural vegetation fire, other 3 9.4%
Building fires 2 6.2%
All other categories 15 46.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

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

Year over year in Soledad

334 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $907K cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 113 —
2022 84 -25.7%
2023 66 -21.4%
2024* 39 —
2025* 32 —

* Well below Soledad'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 2 building fires Soledad departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
29%
2
Cause undetermined
43%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
29%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Soledad?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 87 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 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 27 31.0%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 9 10.3%
3 Vehicle area, other 6 6.9%
4 Undetermined 6 6.9%
5 Outside area, other 5 5.7%
6 Other 4 4.6%
7 Corridor, mall 2 2.3%
8 Function area, other 2 2.3%
9 Switchgear area, transformer vault 2 2.3%
10 Cell, test 2 2.3%
11 All other areas 22 25.3%
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 Soledad mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 22 25.3%
2 Heat source: other 19 21.8%
3 Arcing 15 17.2%
4 Heat from powered equipment, other 11 12.6%
5 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 4 4.6%
6 Hot or smoldering object, other 4 4.6%
7 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 3 3.4%
8 Heat, spark from friction 3 3.4%
9 Hot ember or ash 1 1.1%
10 Munitions 1 1.1%
11 All other sources 4 4.6%
04 The biggest fires

5 fires · $233K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Soledad departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $150,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
2 $50,000 Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant Investigated
3 $18,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
4 $10,000 Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant Investigated
5 $5,000 Passenger vehicle fire Significant Investigated
05 How Soledad compares

Soledad vs California vs the nation

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

1.29
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Soledad
1.29
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.08
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Soledad
0.08
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Soledad
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Soledad

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 816,439 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2008 Natural 162,818 20.8 mi
2016 Recreation and ceremony 132,127 31.0 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 124,924 26.4 mi
2008 Recreation and ceremony 81,378 23.9 mi
1999 Natural 49,551 30.7 mi
2020 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 48,088 18.5 mi
2003 Natural 30,170 39.4 mi
1996 Arson/incendiarism 25,620 33.7 mi
1999 Natural 23,761 19.5 mi
1996 Power generation/transmission/distribution 18,340 39.3 mi
1996 Equipment and vehicle use 16,820 47.0 mi
2006 Natural 14,507 42.7 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Soledad do fires concentrate?

Top 4 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 93960 325
2 93926 7
3 93906 1
4 93930 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Soledad

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