In 2025, fire departments serving Corning responded to 218 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
951 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $226K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 156 | — | |
| 2022 | 265 | +69.9% | |
| 2023 | 166 | -37.4% | |
| 2024 | 146 | -12.0% | |
| 2025 | 218 | +49.3% |
For the 22 building fires Corning departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Laboratory | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 27.3% |
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 Corning mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Corning departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,850 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $85 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Corning sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
25 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 14 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,833 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,000 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 12.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Smoking | 62 | 46.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Corning. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Corning.
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.