In 2025, fire departments serving Hornell responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
131 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 47 | — | |
| 2024 | 36 | -23.4% | |
| 2025 | 42 | +16.7% |
* Well below Hornell'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 0 building fires Hornell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | Other | 5 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 13.6% |
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 Hornell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 7 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hornell sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,594 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 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 17.0 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 | 14843 | 131 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Hornell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hornell.
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.