In 2025, fire departments serving Wurtsboro responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $200K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | -5.7% | |
| 2024 | 50 | +51.5% | |
| 2025 | 37 | -26.0% |
* Well below Wurtsboro'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 1 building fires Wurtsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.1% |
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 Wurtsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 38.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wurtsboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,691 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 19.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 30.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Wurtsboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wurtsboro.
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.