In 2025, fire departments serving Great Neck responded to 227 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
949 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $20K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 121 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +43.0% | |
| 2023 | 205 | +18.5% | |
| 2024 | 223 | +8.8% | |
| 2025 | 227 | +1.8% |
For the 4 building fires Great Neck departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Office | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Great Neck mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Great Neck sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,790 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 20.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Great Neck. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Great Neck.
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.