Data updated September 6, 2026 · All 58 Counties
California Fire-Damaged Homes: A Distressed Property List, Year To Date
As of September 6, 2026, California has 5,599 fire-damaged properties on record across all 58 counties.
Fire-damaged homes are among the clearest distressed properties in California real estate — the kind investors, fix-and-flippers and wholesalers search for. A fire-damaged property list is the set of homes and buildings where firefighters actually responded to a structure fire — a fire inside a building, not a brush fire or a car fire. Every record here comes from the incident report the responding department filed: when the call came in, what kind of fire it was (structural involvement, a room and its contents, a confined cooking fire, a chimney fire), how the department rated the damage to the building, whether anyone was living there at the time, and what the crew had to do. Properant matches each report to the parcel it happened on and shows it on that property's profile.
Top California Counties
| # | County | Count | Share of Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles County | 643 | 11.5% |
| 2 | San Diego County | 629 | 11.2% |
| 3 | Orange County | 514 | 9.2% |
| 4 | Kern County | 357 | 6.4% |
| 5 | San Bernardino County | 315 | 5.6% |
| 6 | Sacramento County | 295 | 5.3% |
| 7 | Fresno County | 235 | 4.2% |
| 8 | San Joaquin County | 218 | 3.9% |
| 9 | Stanislaus County | 185 | 3.3% |
| 10 | Ventura County | 179 | 3.2% |
| 11 | Tulare County | 149 | 2.7% |
| 12 | San Francisco County | 140 | 2.5% |
| 13 | Solano County | 136 | 2.4% |
| 14 | Placer County | 122 | 2.2% |
| 15 | Santa Barbara County | 100 | 1.8% |
Every County, Counted
What a fire report tells you before you ever drive by
The department's report carries the facts an investor needs to size the deal: the date of the fire, whether it involved the structure itself or stayed in one room, the damage rating the crew assigned to the building, the room the fire started in, and whether the building was occupied or sitting vacant when it burned. Layer that with the equity, the owner's mailing address and any other distress flag on the parcel and the list narrows to the owners who need an as-is offer. A vacant house with major structural damage and an absentee owner is a different conversation from an occupied home with a contained kitchen fire — and you can tell them apart from the list before making a single call.
How fix-and-flippers and wholesalers work a fire list
Filter to moderate or major damage, cross it with equity and ownership — an owner with real equity and a mailing address somewhere else is the classic seller — and reach out while the insurance claim is still open. Wholesalers pair the property with a rehab buyer who wants the discount and can carry the scope; flippers underwrite the rebuild against the after-repair value of the street. Either way the fire report gives you the timing: the weeks after the fire, before the owner has decided what to do, are when an as-is offer lands.
Search fire-damaged properties in the live database →What's on Every Property Record
Fire-damaged houses almost never sell the way other houses do. Insurance pays out, the owner is living somewhere else, and very few people want to manage a rebuild — so the property sells as-is, off the MLS, to an investor who can. That is why a structure fire is one of the most reliable motivated-seller signals there is, and why this list is built for fix-and-flippers and wholesalers: a known scope of work, a discounted price, and an owner who usually wants out. Each property shows the fire alongside everything else Properant knows about the parcel — the owner's record and mailing address, open loans and true equity, tax status, liens, and foreclosure stage — so you can tell a burned-out rental with a distant landlord from a family that will rebuild.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many fire-damaged properties are there in California?
Properant tracks 5,599 fire-damaged properties across California's 58 counties as of September 6, 2026, counted from recorded county documents with releases and cancellations removed.
Why do fire-damaged properties usually sell to investors?
Because a fire changes the seller's math. The insurance check often covers the loan and then some, the family has relocated, and rebuilding means a year of contractors, permits, and decisions most owners would rather not make. A cash buyer who takes the property as-is solves all of that in one closing — which is exactly what a fix-and-flipper or a wholesaler with a rehab buyer offers. The result is a discounted, off-market sale with a clear scope of work, and it is why investors watch fire reports the way they watch notices of default.
How current is the fire data?
The list covers structure fires from January 1, 2026 through July 7, 2026 — year to date — and is refreshed as fire departments file their reports. Departments report on their own schedules, so the most recent weeks fill in over time.
Can I download the fire-damaged homes: a distressed property list, year to date?
Yes. Inside Properant you can filter by county, city, equity, owner type, and every other signal, save the list, and export it — or upload your own list and let the platform match and enrich it. The trial is free and requires no credit card.
Build Your Fire-Damaged Homes: A Distressed Property List, Year To Date in Minutes
This page is one slice of it. Properant connects every parcel in California to its owner, open loans, liens and foreclosure stage — then scores and skip-traces the ones worth calling.
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