In 2025, fire departments serving Binghamton responded to 557 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,431 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 598 | — | |
| 2022 | 904 | +51.2% | |
| 2023 | 671 | -25.8% | |
| 2024 | 701 | +4.5% | |
| 2025 | 557 | -20.5% |
For the 47 building fires Binghamton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 272 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 | 44 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 31 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 95 | 34.9% |
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 Binghamton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 121 | 44.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 26 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 20 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Binghamton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Binghamton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,206 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 136 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 53 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 3.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 43 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 9.3 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 Binghamton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Binghamton.
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.