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Fire Incidents in California (CA)

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This section offers an overview of all fire incidents in California (CA). We analyzed the annual National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release files provided by the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA) National Fire Data Center (NFDC) to get this data. Please note, this isn't a fire census. The input from the fire departments may contain human error but the proportion of fire incidents reported to NFIRS is large enough to make reasonable interferences.

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Noncontained Fire Incidents in California (CA)

Noncontained fires demand detailed fire investigations so we've only accounted for those in this report. We haven't considered contained fires with no casualties or significant property loss for this section.

California (CA) Fire Incidents (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of fire incidents. Stockton ranks first with 3791 incidents, while Mount Shasta ranked last, with 10 incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1Stockton3791472842293820
2Los Angeles2139509467406422
3Sacramento1458179119711305
4San Jose141917308691603
5San Francisco117712031000733
6Bakersfield899390913750
7Long Beach788685584531
8San Diego7838378471012
9Fresno773208212811114
10Oakland678633591042

California (CA) Wildland Fire Incidents (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of wildland fires. Bakersfield ranks first with 464 incidents, while Willows ranked last, with Loading incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1Bakersfield464103267273
2Modesto278350355333
3Kern County24594909
4Riverside214251278252
5San Diego19627918841
6Fremont1331329594
7West Sacramento1271890203
8Tracy126111812
9Madera111113121198
10Visalia1018588142

California (CA) Arson Fire Incidents (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of intentional fires. Bakersfield ranks first with 8 incidents, while Yucaipa ranked last, with Loading incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1Bakersfield80109
2Calexico4242
3Hanford4110
4Burney3001
5Eureka3211
6Sacramento3220
7Santa Cruz3220
8Brawley2110
9Chowchilla2010
10Gilroy2010

California (CA) Juvenile Arson Fire Incidents (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of juvenile intentional fires. Bakersfield ranks first with 1 incidents, while Yucaipa ranked last, with Loading incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1Bakersfield1000
2Benicia1000
3Corona1010
4Cottonwood1000
5Culver City1000
6Hanford1011
7El Segundo0000
8Acampo0000
9Acton0000
10Aguanga0000

California (CA) Fire Incidents with Civilian Casualties (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of fires with civilian casualties. San Francisco ranks first with 13 incidents, while Yucaipa ranked last, with Loading incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1San Francisco1319105
2Bakersfield119715
3Los Angeles11172718
4Stockton1121108
5San Jose10964
6Sacramento816116
7Visalia8475
8Riverside714199
9Santa Ana7564
10Fresno631721

California (CA) Fire Incidents with Fire Service Casualties (Top 10 Cities)

This table ranks California (CA) cities based on the number of fires with firefighter casualties. Stockton ranks first with 13 incidents, while Yucaipa ranked last, with Loading incidents.

PositionCity4Y Trend2023202220212020
1Stockton13202922
2Los Angeles8025
3Ontario8136
4Bakersfield7452
5Fremont6810
6Riverside4351
7Citrus Heights3110
8Elk Grove3100
9Vacaville3531
10Dinuba3010

Where is Fire Incident Data Coming From? NFIRS

The NFIRS is a reporting standard that fire departments use to uniformly report on the full range of their activities, from fire to emergency medical services (EMS) to equipment involved in the response.

Anyone analyzing the NFIRS data should note that NFIRS is neither a random sample nor a census of fire incidents or casualties in the United States. As such, the analyst may not accurately make estimates of total fires, fire losses, or fire casualties in the United States from NFIRS data alone. Similarly, statistical means (averages) or standard error measurements taken from NFIRS describe the population of fire incidents related to fire departments that participate in NFIRS but do not describe the population of fire incidents in the Nation as a whole. However, the proportion of fire incidents reported to NFIRS is large enough that reasonable inferences can be made that the proportions of fires in NFIRS are similar to the true national measurements.