In 2025, fire departments serving Penfield responded to 81 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
578 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 115 | — | |
| 2022 | 155 | +34.8% | |
| 2023 | 163 | +5.2% | |
| 2024* | 64 | — | |
| 2025 | 81 | — |
* Well below Penfield'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 3 building fires Penfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Penfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 25.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Penfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,470 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 694 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 145 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 33 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Smoking | 30 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 27 | 49.9 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 Penfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Penfield.
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.