California and Texas dominate a new ranking of the most vulnerable U.S. cities for house fires in 2025, with multiple cities from both states making the top 20.
An additional three Texas cities also ranked in the top 15: Amarillo (eighth), Lubbock (ninth), and Pasadena (14th).
The study compared the nation’s largest cities based on 27 metrics, including wildfire risk, drought, access to both career and volunteer firefighters, percentage of homes using gas heating, average age of homes, and population density.
“It’s not surprising that so many Western cities were named in this report. Not only do you have very dry landscapes creating wildfire risks there, but we also looked at the number of fire-protection services available to cover those areas,” Kimberly Magerl, a HomeGnome analyst, told The Epoch Times. HomeGnome connects homeowners with home service professionals.
This is the first time that the company has conducted this particular study, according to Magerl.
“We thought it was timely because of what was happening in California, and we want to help homeowners across the country to be able to properly protect themselves in the event of a fire,” she said.
Simple precautions—such as installing smoke alarms, keeping space heaters away from flammable objects, ensuring that fireplaces are never unattended, and taking care when cooking—can reduce the risk of house fires, Magerl said.
“It’s also important that homeowners not overload electrical circuits by running too many appliances at once,” she said. “That can also often result in fires.”
While Pomona ranked the 12th highest city for wildfire risk, the study found that the city lacks fireproofing firms, chimneysweeps, and home repair services. It also ties 24 California cities for the worst traffic congestion.
Detroit ranked second on the list because of the high prevalence of home fires over the past five years and the lack of fire alarms in many residences. Homes in Detroit also have a median age of 76 years, and 84 percent use gas for heating.
Other cities on the top 20 included Wichita, Kansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Kansas; and Patterson, New Jersey.
Anne Russell, president of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors, said the report came as no surprise, following the month-long wildfires that ravaged 57,000 acres in southern California.
“As a result, a lot of former homeowners are leaving the area and some are even moving out of state,” she told The Epoch Times. “One of my clients went to Washington state, and he’s not sure he’ll ever come back to California. He watched his home burn to the ground from his Ring Doorbell app.”
Russell said that other former homeowners are leaving temporarily while deciding whether to rebuild or just sell the land and move on.
“The bigger problem is that much of the land is so toxic and will take several months to clear,” she said. “You had things like electric car batteries melting into the ground.”
Local real estate agents who had concentrated their businesses in the areas destroyed by the fires now have to find other areas where they can do business. In the meantime, people who want to remain in the region are still dealing with escalating rents and insurance costs.
Recently, Russell was able to help a client obtain insurance for a Beverly Hills condominium, but when the lender reviewed the complex’s master insurance coverage, it determined that it was inadequate and refused to process the loan.
“First-time homebuyers are being hit the hardest because they’re now competing with all of those who have been displaced,” Russell said.
“On average, a fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the U.S. every 23 seconds in 2023,” its webpage states. “A civilian was fatally injured in a fire every 2 hours and 23 minutes. Every 39 minutes, a civilian suffered a non-fatal fire injury.”
The NFPA notes that non-home residential structures, such as hotels, motels, and dormitories, and non-residential properties, such as educational, institutional, retail, office, or manufacturing facilities, are usually more regulated than home properties.
Surprisingly, another California location ranked as the least vulnerable city for house fires in 2025. Sacramento offers the most fire stations per 100,000 residents and the most career firefighters per 100,000 households.
Pittsburgh ranked as the second safest city when it comes to house fires, followed by Madison, Wisconsin; Honolulu; and Alexandria, Virginia. Irvine, California, ranked seventh, and three Texas cities—Dallas, Houston, and Laredo—also made the top 20 safest communities.
While New York City was ranked as the 39th safest city, the Big Apple is home to the most fire alarm system companies and fire-protection services in the nation.
“It’s going to take a long time to rebuild here, but the idea is to build back better with nonflammable materials for homes,” Russell said. “What’s amazing is how strongly people gathered together in this time of need. It’s really a testament to the resilience of Californians in the wake of this devastation.”
