In 2025, fire departments serving Au Sable Forks responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -46.2% | |
| 2024 | 11 | -21.4% | |
| 2025 | 12 | +9.1% |
* Well below Au Sable Forks'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 2 building fires Au Sable Forks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Au Sable Forks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Au Sable Forks sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,453 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 9.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 32.1 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 | 12912 | 63 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Au Sable Forks. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.