In 2025, fire departments serving Fulton responded to 281 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 69% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,056 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $374K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 114 | — | |
| 2022 | 217 | — | |
| 2023 | 189 | -12.9% | |
| 2024 | 255 | +34.9% | |
| 2025 | 281 | +10.2% |
* Well below Fulton'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 44 building fires Fulton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 28.6% |
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 Fulton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fulton departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Hazardous condition, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fulton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 16 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,158 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 694 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 75 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 30 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 21 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 13 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 18.8 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 Fulton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fulton.
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.