In 2025, fire departments serving Silver Creek responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 75% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
108 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $267K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 20 | -39.4% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +0.0% |
* Well below Silver Creek'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 Silver Creek departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Silver Creek mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver Creek departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $250 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silver Creek sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 757 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 92 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 64 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 33 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 31 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 25 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 25 | 19.5 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 | 14136 | 108 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Silver Creek. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Silver Creek.
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.