In 2025, fire departments serving Nichols responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 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 100% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
91 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 31 | +40.9% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -48.4% |
* Well below Nichols'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 11 building fires Nichols departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Nichols mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nichols departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nichols sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,590 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 8.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Smoking | 62 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 35.2 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 | 13812 | 91 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Nichols. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nichols.
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.