In 2025, fire departments serving San Luis Obispo County responded to 1,719 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 39% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips.
7,837 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,232 | |
| 2022 | 1,549 | |
| 2023 | 1,573 | |
| 2024 | 1,764 | |
| 2025 | 1,719 |
For the 114 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in San Luis Obispo County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | Templeton | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Grover Beach | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,300,000 | TEMPCO | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,200,000 | Morro Bay | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | SLOCO | Aircraft fire | Major |
| 6 | $800,000 | PRCO | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $700,000 | NIP | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $500,000 | HERITAGE | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $400,000 | Templeton | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $350,000 | Morro Bay | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 06079.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo | 47,529 | View › |
| El Paso de Robles | 31,595 | View › |
| Atascadero | 29,758 | View › |
| Arroyo Grande | 18,435 | View › |
| Nipomo | 18,009 | View › |
| Los Osos | 15,523 | View › |
| Grover Beach | 12,757 | View › |
| Morro Bay | 10,766 | View › |
| Templeton | 8,614 | View › |
| Pismo Beach | 8,050 | View › |
| Oceano | 7,287 | View › |
| California Polytechnic State University | 6,983 | View › |
13 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.