In 2025, fire departments serving Canton responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
215 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $103K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | +79.5% | |
| 2023 | 49 | -38.0% | |
| 2024* | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | — |
* Well below Canton'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 Canton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Canton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Canton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,088 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Smoking | 255 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 68 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 66 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 49 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 36 | 21.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 32 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 29 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26 | 39.1 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 Canton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Canton.
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.