In 2025, fire departments serving Dunkirk responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
461 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 102 | +36.0% | |
| 2023 | 101 | -1.0% | |
| 2024 | 105 | +4.0% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -25.7% |
For the 8 building fires Dunkirk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 7 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Office | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Dunkirk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dunkirk sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 825 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 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 18.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 33 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 31 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 28 | 49.6 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 | 14048 | 461 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Dunkirk. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dunkirk.
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.