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2025 County Report

Fires in Cayuga County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Cayuga County responded to 557 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

84,099 residents FIPS 36011 89 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
557
3,135 across 5 years
Building fires
133
15 wildland
Property loss
$440K
$311K structure · $129K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.

557
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 173 31.1%
Building fires 133 23.9%
Power line down 84 15.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 34 6.1%
Fire, other 16 2.9%
All other categories 117 21.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cayuga County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 38
Feb 25
Mar 62
Apr 51
May 47
Jun 39
Jul 73
Aug 48
Sep 46
Oct 61
Nov 44
Dec 23
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cayuga County

3,135 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 455
2022 723
2023 938
2024 462
2025 557
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 133 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
11
Cause undetermined
7%
2
Intentional / arson
11%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
6
Under investigation
11%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $311K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cayuga County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Port Byron Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Locke Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Auburn Building fires Significant
4 $30,000 Cayuga Building fires Significant
5 $20,000 Cayuga Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Auburn Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 KING FERRY Building fires Significant
8 $1,000 Auburn Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $1 SUMMERHILL Carbon monoxide incident Significant
10 $1 SEMPRONIUS Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) Significant
06 How Cayuga County compares

Cayuga County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cayuga County
6.62
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
1.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cayuga County
1.58
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cayuga County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cayuga County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36011.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cayuga County

1 departments report from this county.

East Chatham Fire Co Inc
East Chatham
FDID 11005 0 incidents 30 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NY

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Great Kills Blowup 2010 NPS 143
2 GK3 1996 NPS 98
3 NYIRR-FY19-RX-J Units 2019 FWS 81
4 GK06-01 2006 NPS 60
5 DRIFTFENCE 2001 NPS 58
6 north40 1997 NPS 51
7 HugeFire 1994 NPS 46
8 GOLF 2006 NPS 45
9 GRKILLS002 1999 NPS 41
10 Spring Creek 1 2014 NPS 39

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.