In 2025, fire departments serving San Mateo County responded to 2,854 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips.
18,349 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,560 | |
| 2022 | 3,700 | |
| 2023 | 4,628 | |
| 2024 | 3,607 | |
| 2025 | 2,854 |
For the 199 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in San Mateo County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | NFO | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | BURLINGAMEHILLS | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | EMERALDLAKE | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | LAHONDA | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $850,000 | La Honda | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $550,000 | SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO | Passenger vehicle fire | Major |
| 7 | $533,808 | Belmont | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $500,000 | SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
| 9 | $400,000 | DCY | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $300,000 | SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 06081.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| San Mateo | 104,165 | View › |
| Daly City | 103,648 | View › |
| Redwood City | 83,077 | View › |
| South San Francisco | 65,596 | View › |
| San Bruno | 43,218 | View › |
| Pacifica | 38,048 | View › |
| Menlo Park | 33,324 | View › |
| Foster City | 33,215 | View › |
| Burlingame | 30,995 | View › |
| San Carlos | 30,490 | View › |
| East Palo Alto | 29,520 | View › |
| Belmont | 27,820 | View › |
17 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.