In 2025, fire departments serving Addison responded to 35 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
120 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | -4.3% | |
| 2023* | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | — | |
| 2025 | 35 | +29.6% |
* Well below Addison's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 5 building fires Addison departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Swimming pool | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Addison mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Addison departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Addison sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,871 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,000 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 16.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 6.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 68 | 47.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14801 | 120 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Addison. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Addison.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.