Do 238 California Crematory Records Mean 238 Operating Furnaces?

Direct answer and scope

The exact figure supported by the snapshot is 238 Crematory-category records across all statuses. It is a control total used to account for rows in that license category, not a count of operating furnaces. Its scope is fixed by two dates: the snapshot was obtained on August 25, 2026, and the Department of Consumer Affairs files were updated on August 1, 2026.

The source files are monthly refreshed public-disclosure license records rather than a real-time operational inventory. Their documented fields include license type, license number, whether the record concerns an individual or organization, public address of record, expiration date, and displayed license status. A public address of record does not by itself establish a service location, and an expiration field or displayed status does not count physical equipment.

California defines a crematory as a place of business with a building or structure containing a furnace used to reduce human remains by incineration. That definition connects the licensed facility category to a physical footprint, but it does not convert every row in an all-status dataset into evidence of a separately operating furnace. Applying the physical-facility description to a particular location requires an exact active crematory record at its official address.

How to use the supplied evidence

Use 238 only when describing the Crematory-category control total across all statuses in the identified snapshot. Keep the category, total, snapshot-obtained date, and source-file update date together. Removing the dates or the all-status qualification would change the meaning of the figure.

For a particular entity, current license information must be checked separately through the Department of Consumer Affairs lookup. A defensible match requires the exact license type and number rather than a name alone. Record the displayed status, source location, and verification date for each matched entity, because status can change and separately involved entities need separate verification.

An exact active crematory record at its official address can support a licensed physical flame-cremation facility footprint as of the verification date. It does not identify where a particular person’s case will be handled. Case-specific documentation is needed before associating a particular case with that facility.

The archived files also have a narrower provenance role. Funeral_Data00.xls contained 6,137 records and Cemetery_Data00.xls contained 6,688 records in the identified snapshot, with archived-file checksums supplied for both. Those details identify the file bytes used for the snapshot; they do not establish that every row remained current, complete, or correct after August 1, 2026.

Decision framework

Begin by naming the quantity being requested. If the question concerns the raw Crematory-category record total, the supplied answer is 238 across all statuses. If it concerns active records, apply an explicitly disclosed normalized status filter to the full relevant coverage. No such filtered result is supplied here, so the active subset remains unresolved.

If the question concerns unique entities, deduplicate only after establishing matching criteria for license numbers, organization indicators, names, and other relevant fields. If it concerns unique physical facilities, evaluate exact active facility records and official addresses without treating a public address of record as automatic proof of a service location. Neither deduplicated result is supplied.

If the question concerns furnaces or other equipment, use evidence that actually enumerates equipment at the relevant facilities. A license row, building reference, address, displayed status, or expiration date is not an equipment inventory. Current operation is another separate inquiry because a dated administrative record does not document whether equipment is operating at the time of inquiry.

Capacity requires its own measure and period, such as a documented operating limit or other supplied capacity record. Direct public service also needs separate current evidence: California guidance states that a licensed crematory may or may not offer services directly to the public. Current service availability must likewise be established independently rather than derived from the category total.

Evidence limits and unresolved questions

The unresolved quantities are the active Crematory-record subset, unique entity count, unique physical-facility count, furnace or equipment count, present operating count, capacity, direct-public-service state, and current service availability. The evidence supplies no calculated value for any of them. An unknown value should remain unknown rather than be represented as zero.

Monthly refresh timing creates a defined evidence boundary. The August 25 snapshot preserves files updated August 1, but it is not a live view. Current status for a particular entity therefore requires a dated lookup using the exact license number and type. A same-name search result is not enough to establish an entity match.

The dataset’s administrative fields also do not supply ratings, service quality findings, or present availability. Displayed status should be reported as a dated source field, not treated as an evaluation of service quality. Similarly, absence from a single search does not establish the broader record history of an entity.

A facility footprint and a consumer’s actual case facility must remain separate. Even an exact active facility record at an official address does not determine where a specific case will occur. Without case-specific documentation, that point remains unresolved.

Questions people ask

The recurring questions turn on whether an administrative record total can answer a different physical or operational question. The correct reading preserves each measurement separately: all-status rows, active rows, entities, physical facilities, equipment, operation, capacity, public access, and current availability.

Only the first measurement has a supplied numeric result. The remaining measurements require evidence tailored to the quantity being counted, and no calculated results for them are present in the supplied snapshot facts.

Evidence behind this page

Each point below is restricted to what the cited primary source supports. Administrative listing status is not a quality endorsement.