In 2025, fire departments serving Stony Brook responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
119 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | -4.8% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -5.0% | |
| 2024 | 38 | +100.0% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -44.7% |
For the 1 building fires Stony Brook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Stony Brook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 50.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stony Brook sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,734 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 190 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 152 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 125 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 125 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 10.5 mi |
Top 5 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 Stony Brook. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Stony Brook.
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.