In 2025, fire departments serving Plattsburgh responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
902 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 98 | — | |
| 2022 | 275 | — | |
| 2023 | 200 | -27.3% | |
| 2024 | 163 | -18.5% | |
| 2025 | 166 | +1.8% |
* Well below Plattsburgh'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 19 building fires Plattsburgh departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 96 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 | 12 | 12.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 41.7% |
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 Plattsburgh mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plattsburgh departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plattsburgh sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,090 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 52 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51 | 14.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Plattsburgh. 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.