In 2025, fire departments serving New Baltimore responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $366K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | +28.6% | |
| 2024 | 10 | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | 12 | +20.0% |
* Well below New Baltimore'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 1 building fires New Baltimore departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 New Baltimore mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Baltimore departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $19,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Baltimore sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,771 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 175 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 146 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 | 11.8 mi |
Top 5 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 New Baltimore. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Baltimore.
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.