In 2025, fire departments serving Stockton responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $11K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
85 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $69K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -11.1% |
* 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 3 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 20 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 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 | 9 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stockton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
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. 1,831 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 780 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 85 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 54 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 49 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 8.4 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Stockton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 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.