In 2025, fire departments serving Cooperstown responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -39.1% | |
| 2024 | 10 | -28.6% | |
| 2025 | 25 | +150.0% |
* Well below Cooperstown'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 1 building fires Cooperstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Cooperstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 25.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cooperstown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,071 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 47 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 46 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 10.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 40 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 40 | 27.9 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 | 13326 | 75 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Cooperstown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cooperstown.
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.