In 2025, fire departments serving Walden responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
449 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $146K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 46 | — | |
| 2022 | 75 | — | |
| 2023 | 113 | +50.7% | |
| 2024 | 124 | +9.7% | |
| 2025 | 91 | -26.6% |
* Well below Walden'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 Walden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | Undetermined | 8 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 14.7% |
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 Walden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 44.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walden departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Walden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,559 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 18.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 21.5 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 New York cities with population within ±25% of Walden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Walden.
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.