In 2025, fire departments serving Salamanca responded to 83 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
382 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $737K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | +29.1% | |
| 2023 | 87 | +22.5% | |
| 2024 | 86 | -1.1% | |
| 2025 | 83 | -3.5% |
For the 9 building fires Salamanca departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | Outside area, other | 11 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 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 Salamanca mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Salamanca departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Salamanca sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,918 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 780 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 85 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 54 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 5.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 49 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 40.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14779 | 382 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Salamanca. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Salamanca.
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.