In 2025, fire departments serving Syracuse responded to 211 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Syracuse's departments reported 211 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 880 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,402 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.9M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 608 | — | |
| 2022* | 343 | — | |
| 2023 | 1,309 | — | |
| 2024 | 1,931 | +47.5% | |
| 2025* | 211 | — |
* 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 51 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 641 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 81 | 12.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 73 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 71 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 57 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 37 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 31 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 17 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 217 | 33.9% |
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 | 229 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 89 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 57 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 37 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 37 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 30 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 82 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Syracuse departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Syracuse sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
39 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,312 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 694 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 30 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 5.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 36.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23 | 48.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Syracuse. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 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.