In 2025, fire departments serving Cohoes responded to 199 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $194K 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 51% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
996 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 158 | — | |
| 2022 | 199 | +25.9% | |
| 2023 | 238 | +19.6% | |
| 2024 | 202 | -15.1% | |
| 2025 | 199 | -1.5% |
For the 12 building fires Cohoes departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 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 | 23 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 49 | 36.8% |
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 Cohoes mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 33.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cohoes departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $194,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cohoes sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,184 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 26.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 70 | 40.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Cohoes. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cohoes.
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.