In 2025, fire departments serving Bolivar responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | -41.7% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 11 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | +90.9% |
* Well below Bolivar'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 Bolivar departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Other | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Bolivar mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bolivar sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,891 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 236 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 116 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 88 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 78 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 68 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 38.0 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 | 14715 | 55 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Bolivar. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bolivar.
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.