In 2025, fire departments serving Peekskill responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,000 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 257 | — | |
| 2023 | 271 | +5.4% | |
| 2024 | 240 | -11.4% | |
| 2025 | 225 | -6.2% |
* Well below Peekskill'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 Peekskill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 57 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 | 8 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Assembly or sales area, other | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 31.6% |
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 Peekskill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 8.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Peekskill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,709 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 6.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 4.9 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 Peekskill. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Peekskill.
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.