In 2025, fire departments serving Oriskany responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K 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 74% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
84 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $195K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 21 | +40.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +9.5% |
* Well below Oriskany'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 5 building fires Oriskany 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Assembly area without fixed seats - 100+ persons | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 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 Oriskany mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oriskany departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oriskany sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 713 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 47 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 39 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 30 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 | 42.3 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 | 13424 | 84 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Oriskany. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.