In 2025, fire departments serving Westerlo responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
79 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +11.1% | |
| 2024 | 21 | +5.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -4.8% |
* Well below Westerlo'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 0 building fires Westerlo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Chimney (conversion only) | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Westerlo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westerlo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,771 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 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 175 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 146 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 | 13.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12193 | 78 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Westerlo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Westerlo.
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.