In 2025, fire departments serving Milton responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
174 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $352K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | +46.2% | |
| 2024 | 52 | +36.8% | |
| 2025 | 41 | -21.2% |
* Well below Milton'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 6 building fires Milton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Chute; laundry or mail, excluding trash chutes | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 24.0% |
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 Milton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 7 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,556 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Smoking | 310 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 11.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 75 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 12.9 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 Milton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Milton.
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.