In 2025, fire departments serving Santa Cruz County responded to 974 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips.
8,272 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,744 | |
| 2022 | 1,732 | |
| 2023 | 2,089 | |
| 2024 | 1,733 | |
| 2025 | 974 |
For the 66 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 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000,000 | BIGBASIN | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $850,000 | BOULDERCREEK | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major |
| 3 | $500,000 | Santa Cruz | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $307,172 | Davenport | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $300,000 | Santa Cruz | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $300,000 | Corralitos | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $250,000 | Scotts Valley | Passenger vehicle fire | Major |
| 8 | $210,000 | Santa Cruz | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $200,000 | Capitola | Water vehicle fire | Significant |
| 10 | $100,000 | BOULDER CREEK | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 06087.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz | 61,367 | View › |
| Watsonville | 52,457 | View › |
| Live Oak | 17,707 | View › |
| Scotts Valley | 12,239 | View › |
| Soquel | 10,505 | View › |
| Capitola | 9,921 | View › |
| Rio del Mar | 9,007 | View › |
| Interlaken | 8,039 | View › |
| Ben Lomond | 7,247 | View › |
| Aptos | 6,614 | View › |
| Pleasure Point | 5,909 | View › |
| Boulder Creek | 5,492 | View › |
14 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.