In 2025, fire departments serving Syracuse responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
117 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $831K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 40 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | -37.5% | |
| 2024 | 18 | -28.0% | |
| 2025 | 24 | +33.3% |
* Well below Syracuse'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 2 building fires Syracuse departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Assembly area without fixed seats - 100+ persons | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 9.1% |
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 Syracuse mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Syracuse departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Syracuse sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,513 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,020 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 5.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 34.2 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 Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Syracuse. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Syracuse.
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.