In 2025, fire departments serving Brooklyn responded to 90 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 66% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
634 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 129 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | +7.8% | |
| 2023 | 121 | -12.9% | |
| 2024 | 155 | +28.1% | |
| 2025 | 90 | -41.9% |
For the 14 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 166 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 | Outside area, other | 42 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 22.3% |
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 | 109 | 65.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brooklyn departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brooklyn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 8 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 545 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 42.1 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 Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Brooklyn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.