In 2025, fire departments serving West Seneca responded to 153 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 67% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
731 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 147 | — | |
| 2022 | 164 | +11.6% | |
| 2023 | 170 | +3.7% | |
| 2024 | 97 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 153 | +57.7% |
For the 8 building fires West Seneca departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.9% |
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 West Seneca mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 41.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 24.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Seneca departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Seneca sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 18 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 359 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 72 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 44 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 25 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 23 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 20 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 19 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 9.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 15 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 15 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Other causes | 14 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 13 | 45.4 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 West Seneca. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Seneca.
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.