In 2025, fire departments serving Syracuse responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
703 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022 | 157 | +34.2% | |
| 2023 | 131 | -16.6% | |
| 2024 | 150 | +14.5% | |
| 2025 | 148 | -1.3% |
For the 10 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 178 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 | 29 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 23 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 18 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Construction/renovation area | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 23.0% |
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 Syracuse mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 57 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 13 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 21.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Syracuse departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,250 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Syracuse sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 322,117 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Natural | 44,345 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 40,000 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 30,720 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 25,000 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 24,594 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Firearms and explosives use | 16,267 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,116 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 15,330 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 14,293 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Firearms and explosives use | 9,880 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,000 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,000 | 42.5 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Syracuse. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.