In 2025, fire departments serving Sherman responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | +16.7% | |
| 2024 | 11 | -21.4% | |
| 2025 | 16 | +45.5% |
* Well below Sherman'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 5 building fires Sherman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Sherman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sherman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,924 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 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 85 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 59 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 54 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 54 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 49 | 40.6 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 | 14781 | 57 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Sherman. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sherman.
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.