In 2025, fire departments serving Ithaca responded to 305 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,800 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 288 | — | |
| 2022 | 472 | +63.9% | |
| 2023 | 376 | -20.3% | |
| 2024 | 359 | -4.5% | |
| 2025 | 305 | -15.0% |
For the 8 building fires Ithaca departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 27.0% |
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 Ithaca mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 51 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ithaca departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,999 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $650 | Incinerator overload or malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ithaca sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,876 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 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 32.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 37.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 40 | 39.5 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 Ithaca. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.