In 2025, fire departments serving Stockton responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
106 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $455K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | -7.1% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | -38.5% |
* Well below Stockton'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 1 building fires Stockton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 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 Stockton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stockton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,743 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,732 | 14.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,017 | 23.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 790 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 772 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 723 | 18.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65785 | 106 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Stockton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Stockton.
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.