In 2025, fire departments serving Lockport responded to 259 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,347 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 237 | — | |
| 2022 | 345 | +45.6% | |
| 2023 | 304 | -11.9% | |
| 2024 | 202 | -33.6% | |
| 2025 | 259 | +28.2% |
For the 20 building fires Lockport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 150 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 | Undetermined | 27 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 30.0% |
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 Lockport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 76 | 50.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lockport departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lockport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 47 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 10 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 | 11.4 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 | 14094 | 1,347 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Lockport. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lockport.
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.