In 2025, fire departments serving Freedom responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K 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 77% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 6 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +116.7% |
* Well below Freedom'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 5 building fires Freedom departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Freedom mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Freedom departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Freedom sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 992 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 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 43 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 43 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 47.1 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 | 14065 | 37 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Freedom. 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.