In 2025, fire departments serving Oneonta responded to 177 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 66% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
888 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 111 | — | |
| 2022 | 247 | +122.5% | |
| 2023 | 176 | -28.7% | |
| 2024 | 177 | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | 177 | +0.0% |
For the 13 building fires Oneonta departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 161 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 | 23 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 23 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 15 | 9.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 26.1% |
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 Oneonta mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 46.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Match | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Candle | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oneonta departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oneonta sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,326 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 163 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 146 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 47 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 46 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 7.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 40 | 15.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Oneonta. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oneonta.
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.