In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Ann responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 79% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $892K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | -18.9% | |
| 2024 | 40 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 91 | +127.5% |
* Well below Fort Ann'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 18 building fires Fort Ann departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Fort Ann mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Ann departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $212,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Ann sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,736 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Smoking | 310 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 27.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 33.4 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 Fort Ann. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Ann.
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.