In 2025, fire departments serving Otisville responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | +23.1% | |
| 2024 | 22 | +37.5% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -54.5% |
* Well below Otisville'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 1 building fires Otisville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 7 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Otisville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Match | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Otisville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,874 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 40.9 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 Otisville. 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.