In 2025, fire departments serving Rochester responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $87K 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 66% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
381 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $227K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65 | — | |
| 2022 | 88 | +35.4% | |
| 2023 | 74 | -15.9% | |
| 2024 | 96 | +29.7% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -39.6% |
For the 16 building fires Rochester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | 29 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 13 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 15.5% |
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 Rochester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 31.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 9 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rochester departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $87,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rochester sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,738 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 39.1 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 Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Rochester. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rochester.
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.