In 2025, fire departments serving Sherburne responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $160K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $414K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 26 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | +3.8% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -25.9% |
* Well below Sherburne'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 3 building fires Sherburne departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Undetermined | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Sherburne mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sherburne departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sherburne sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 990 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 47 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 40 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 40 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38 | 35.6 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 New York cities with population within ±25% of Sherburne. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sherburne.
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.