In 2025, fire departments serving Santa Cruz County responded to 366 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $795K 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 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips.
1,503 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 389 | |
| 2022 | 257 | |
| 2023 | 249 | |
| 2024 | 242 | |
| 2025 | 366 |
For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Santa Cruz County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $795,423 | SONOITA | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $60,000 | City of Nogales | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 3 | $1,000 | Nogales | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $1 | Rio Rico | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 5 | $1 | Rio Rico | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant |
| 6 | $1 | Rio Rico | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 04023.
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodeo-Chediski | 2002 | USFS | 460,563 |
| 2 | Horseshoe 2 | 2011 | NPS | 222,989 |
| 3 | Bush | 2020 | USFS | 193,603 |
| 4 | Telegraph | 2021 | USFS | 180,756 |
| 5 | Woodbury Fire | 2019 | NPS | 123,973 |
| 6 | Woodbury | 2019 | USFS | 123,832 |
| 7 | BIGHORN | 2020 | USFS | 119,634 |
| 8 | Rafael | 2021 | USFS | 78,064 |
| 9 | MESCAL | 2021 | BLM | 72,250 |
| 10 | MANGUM | 2020 | USFS | 71,484 |
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.