In 2025, fire departments serving Brooklyn responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 82% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
88 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $100 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | +4.0% | |
| 2023 | 18 | -30.8% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Brooklyn'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 Brooklyn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 13.8% |
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 Brooklyn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 41.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Match | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 10.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brooklyn sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,454 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 42.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 30 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 36.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Brooklyn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brooklyn.
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.