In 2025, fire departments serving Saranac Lake responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
301 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 65 | +22.6% | |
| 2023 | 62 | -4.6% | |
| 2024 | 64 | +3.2% | |
| 2025 | 57 | -10.9% |
For the 0 building fires Saranac Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1 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 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 100.0% |
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 Saranac Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Saranac Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,834 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 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 255 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 14.6 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 | 12983 | 301 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Saranac Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Saranac Lake.
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.