In 2025, fire departments serving Santa Clara County responded to 7,546 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1000.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips.
39,420 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,896 | |
| 2022 | 8,402 | |
| 2023 | 8,839 | |
| 2024 | 8,737 | |
| 2025 | 7,546 |
For the 324 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Santa Clara County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $999,999,999 | Gilroy | Fire, other | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,887,105 | Cupertino | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | Milpitas | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | San Jose | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,000,000 | San Jose | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,000,000 | San Jose | Fire, other | Major |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | Saratoga | Outside equipment fire | Major |
| 8 | $1,500,000 | Gilroy | Special outside fire, other | Major |
| 9 | $1,500,000 | Los Altos | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,400,000 | Cupertino | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 06085.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 1,001,176 | View › |
| Sunnyvale | 154,573 | View › |
| Santa Clara | 128,058 | View › |
| Mountain View | 82,132 | View › |
| Milpitas | 79,092 | View › |
| Palo Alto | 67,901 | View › |
| Cupertino | 59,763 | View › |
| Gilroy | 58,696 | View › |
| Morgan Hill | 45,291 | View › |
| Campbell | 43,464 | View › |
| Los Gatos | 33,093 | View › |
| Los Altos | 31,133 | View › |
12 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.