In 2025, fire departments serving Friendship responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 85% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | +22.2% | |
| 2023 | 34 | +54.5% | |
| 2024* | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | — |
* Well below Friendship'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 9 building fires Friendship departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Wall assembly | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Friendship mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Friendship departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Friendship sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,398 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 56 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 29.4 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 | 14739 | 112 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Friendship. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Friendship.
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.