In 2025, fire departments serving Tonawanda responded to 174 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
995 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 276 | — | |
| 2022 | 235 | -14.9% | |
| 2023 | 178 | -24.3% | |
| 2024 | 132 | -25.8% | |
| 2025 | 174 | +31.8% |
For the 10 building fires Tonawanda departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 92 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 | Outside area, other | 14 | 15.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Other | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 34.8% |
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 Tonawanda mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tonawanda departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,999 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tonawanda sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 111 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Smoking | 25 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 20 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 19 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 10 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 | 11.8 mi |
Top 4 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 Tonawanda. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tonawanda.
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.