In 2025, fire departments serving Queensbury responded to 147 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. 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 66% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
794 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 111 | — | |
| 2022 | 156 | +40.5% | |
| 2023 | 191 | +22.4% | |
| 2024 | 189 | -1.0% | |
| 2025 | 147 | -22.2% |
For the 28 building fires Queensbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | 14.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 25.5% |
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 Queensbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Queensbury departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Queensbury sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,727 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Smoking | 310 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 4.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 14.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 41.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Queensbury. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Queensbury.
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.