In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson City responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $108K 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 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
312 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $532K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 18 | — | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 105 | — | |
| 2025 | 163 | +55.2% |
* Well below Johnson City'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 9 building fires Johnson City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 24.3% |
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 Johnson City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 27.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Johnson City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $108,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $300 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Johnson City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,172 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 136 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 4.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 43 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 6.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 16.8 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 | 13790 | 312 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Johnson City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Johnson City.
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.