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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Westwood, California

In 2025, fire departments serving Westwood responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C+ Peak yr 2021 Lassen County 1,116 residents 0 reporting departments 75 5-yr
Total incidents
11
+22.2% vs 2024
Building fires
1
Residential 0% Other 100%
Property loss
$20K
$15K structure · $5K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

11
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 18.2%
Hazardous condition, other 2 18.2%
Fire, other 1 9.1%
Building fires 1 9.1%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 1 9.1%
All other categories 4 36.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

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

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

Year over year in Westwood

75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $81K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 29 —
2022 18 -37.9%
2023* 8 —
2024 9 —
2025 11 +22.2%

* Well below Westwood'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 1 building fires Westwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
67%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
33%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Westwood?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 Undetermined 7 23.3%
2 Other 6 20.0%
3 Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC 4 13.3%
4 Outside area, other 3 10.0%
5 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 2 6.7%
6 Vehicle area, other 2 6.7%
7 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 2 6.7%
8 Cooking area, kitchen 1 3.3%
9 Laundry area, wash house (laundry) 1 3.3%
10 Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste 1 3.3%
11 All other areas 1 3.3%
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 Westwood mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 16 53.3%
2 Hot ember or ash 5 16.7%
3 Hot or smoldering object, other 2 6.7%
4 Heat source: other 1 3.3%
5 Heat from powered equipment, other 1 3.3%
6 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 1 3.3%
7 Arcing 1 3.3%
8 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 1 3.3%
9 Match 1 3.3%
10 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 1 3.3%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $15K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westwood departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $15,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Westwood compares

Westwood vs California vs the nation

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

9.86
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Westwood
9.86
CA avg
5.32
US avg
7.48
0.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Westwood
0.9
CA avg
0.32
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Westwood
0
CA avg
2.9
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Westwood

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,273,969 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2020 Natural 318,776 31.2 mi
2018 Power generation/transmission/distribution 153,336 40.9 mi
2017 Equipment and vehicle use 83,599 47.9 mi
2012 Recreation and ceremony 75,431 25.0 mi
2007 Equipment and vehicle use 64,994 9.7 mi
1999 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 60,390 35.2 mi
2000 Railroad operations and maintenance 55,261 31.5 mi
2019 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 54,608 24.8 mi
2014 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 47,958 40.6 mi
2008 Natural 47,647 35.6 mi
1994 Natural 44,683 37.5 mi
1999 Natural 34,175 32.4 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Westwood do fires concentrate?

Top 3 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 96137 57
2 90024 17
3 96130 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Westwood

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