In 2025, fire departments serving White Plains responded to 459 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,823 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 487 | — | |
| 2022 | 628 | +29.0% | |
| 2023 | 493 | -21.5% | |
| 2024 | 756 | +53.3% | |
| 2025 | 459 | -39.3% |
For the 11 building fires White Plains departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 164 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 | 27 | 16.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 14.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 21 | 12.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 11.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 18.3% |
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 White Plains mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by White Plains departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $316,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. White Plains sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,062 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 9.9 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 White Plains. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in White Plains.
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.