In 2025, fire departments serving South Glens Falls responded to 40 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 93% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
185 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 52 | +6.1% | |
| 2024 | 37 | -28.8% | |
| 2025 | 40 | +8.1% |
* Well below South Glens Falls'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 20 building fires South Glens Falls 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 | Undetermined | 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 South Glens Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Glens Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,946 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Smoking | 310 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 11.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 15.3 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 South Glens Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in South Glens Falls.
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.