In 2025, fire departments serving Danby responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $79K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $509K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | -63.2% | |
| 2024 | 9 | +28.6% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +122.2% |
* Well below Danby'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 7 building fires Danby departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Danby mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Danby departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $78,700 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Danby sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,306 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 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 42.5 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 Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Danby. 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.