In 2025, fire departments serving Whitney Point responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
72 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $60K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +17.6% | |
| 2024 | 15 | -25.0% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +0.0% |
* Well below Whitney Point'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 9 building fires Whitney Point departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Whitney Point mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 25.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whitney Point departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whitney Point sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 878 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 32.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 13.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 16.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 9.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 10.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 40 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 38 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 37 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 8.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 23.8 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 | 13862 | 72 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Whitney Point. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whitney Point.
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.