In 2025, fire departments serving Niagara Falls responded to 274 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,449 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $323K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 267 | — | |
| 2022 | 252 | -5.6% | |
| 2023 | 333 | +32.1% | |
| 2024 | 323 | -3.0% | |
| 2025 | 274 | -15.2% |
For the 7 building fires Niagara Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 8 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Technical processing areas, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 14.8% |
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 Niagara Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 59.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Niagara Falls departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Niagara Falls sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 5 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 72 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Smoking | 25 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 10 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 | 7.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Niagara Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Niagara Falls.
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.