In 2025, fire departments serving Painted Post responded to 149 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Chemical spill or leak lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
527 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $32K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 192 | — | |
| 2024 | 139 | -27.6% | |
| 2025 | 149 | +7.2% |
* Well below Painted Post'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 Painted Post departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 19.4% |
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 Painted Post mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Painted Post departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Painted Post sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,833 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,000 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 11.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 93 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Smoking | 62 | 48.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Painted Post. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Painted Post.
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.