In 2025, fire departments serving Olean responded to 172 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $110K 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 64% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
839 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 107 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | +76.6% | |
| 2023 | 188 | -0.5% | |
| 2024 | 183 | -2.7% | |
| 2025 | 172 | -6.0% |
For the 22 building fires Olean departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 165 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 | Outside area, other | 32 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 15 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 34.5% |
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 Olean mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Olean departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Olean sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,258 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 56 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 54 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 49 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 42.1 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 Olean. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Olean.
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.