In 2025, fire departments serving Wallkill responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
273 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $446K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 101 | — | |
| 2024 | 77 | -23.8% | |
| 2025 | 36 | -53.2% |
* Well below Wallkill'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 4 building fires Wallkill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Other | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Wallkill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wallkill sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,301 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 23.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 44.9 mi |
Top 5 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 Wallkill. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wallkill.
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.