In 2025, fire departments serving LaFayette responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | -37.7% | |
| 2024 | 32 | -3.0% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -25.0% |
* Well below LaFayette'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 2 building fires LaFayette 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 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 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 LaFayette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other static discharge | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. LaFayette sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,415 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 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 30 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 27.9 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 LaFayette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in LaFayette.
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.