In 2025, fire departments serving Cattaraugus responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
31 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | +50.0% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Cattaraugus'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 4 building fires Cattaraugus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Cattaraugus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cattaraugus sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,039 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 85 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 54 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 41 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 36 | 33.9 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 | 14719 | 31 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Cattaraugus. 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.