In 2025, fire departments serving Lackawanna responded to 70 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.
Aug peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
417 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $50K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 72 | — | |
| 2022 | 122 | +69.4% | |
| 2023 | 79 | -35.2% | |
| 2024 | 74 | -6.3% | |
| 2025 | 70 | -5.4% |
For the 0 building fires Lackawanna departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Lackawanna mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Match | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lackawanna sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 18 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 469 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 25 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 23 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 20 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 19 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 13.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 15 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 15 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Other causes | 14 | 43.1 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 | 14218 | 417 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Lackawanna. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lackawanna.
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.