In 2025, fire departments serving Vernon responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Jun peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
104 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $12K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +5.3% | |
| 2024 | 21 | +5.0% | |
| 2025 | 33 | +57.1% |
* Well below Vernon'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 6 building fires Vernon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Vernon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vernon departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vernon sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 770 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 47 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 39 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 30 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 48.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Vernon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vernon.
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.