In 2025, fire departments serving Galway responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 83% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
205 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $345K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | — | |
| 2023 | 32 | -39.6% | |
| 2024 | 51 | +59.4% | |
| 2025 | 47 | -7.8% |
* Well below Galway'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 2 building fires Galway 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 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 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 Galway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Galway departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Galway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,472 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Smoking | 310 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 17.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 75 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 15.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 70 | 16.7 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 Galway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Galway.
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.