In 2025, fire departments serving Westbury responded to 284 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 79% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
819 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 124 | — | |
| 2022 | 161 | +29.8% | |
| 2023 | 108 | -32.9% | |
| 2024 | 142 | +31.5% | |
| 2025 | 284 | +100.0% |
For the 7 building fires Westbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Structural area, other | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 12.7% |
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 Westbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 1.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,486 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 40.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Westbury. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Westbury.
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.