In 2025, fire departments serving Big Flats responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
103 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +52.4% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | +107.7% |
* Well below Big Flats'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 3 building fires Big Flats departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 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 Big Flats mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Big Flats departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Flats sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,822 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 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 18.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Smoking | 62 | 45.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Big Flats. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Big Flats.
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.