In 2025, fire departments serving Gouverneur responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
224 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | — | |
| 2023 | 63 | +133.3% | |
| 2024 | 90 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 42 | -53.3% |
* Well below Gouverneur'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 4 building fires Gouverneur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 10 | Multiple areas | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Gouverneur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gouverneur sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 901 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 75 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 68 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 66 | 0.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 36 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 29 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23 | 18.9 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 | 13642 | 223 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Gouverneur. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gouverneur.
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.