In 2025, fire departments serving Bethpage responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
233 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $102K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60 | — | |
| 2022 | 95 | +58.3% | |
| 2023* | 23 | — | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 46 | — |
* Well below Bethpage'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 Bethpage departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Function area, other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Structural area, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Assembly or sales area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Bethpage mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bethpage departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bethpage sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,573 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 47.3 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Bethpage. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bethpage.
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.