In 2025, fire departments serving Pearl River responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
74 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 39 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | -66.7% | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | — |
* Well below Pearl River'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 4 building fires Pearl River departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Pearl River mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Munitions | 1 | 33.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pearl River sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,619 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 13.7 mi |
Top 7 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 Pearl River. 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.