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2025 County Report

Fires in Chenango County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Chenango County responded to 324 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1000K property loss.

44,457 residents FIPS 36017 74 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
324
2,286 across 5 years
Building fires
44
23 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$1.5M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

324
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 60 18.5%
Building fires 44 13.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 44 13.6%
Power line down 36 11.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 15 4.6%
All other categories 125 38.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chenango County?

Oct peaks. May dips.

Jan 17
Feb 20
Mar 29
Apr 29
May 12
Jun 35
Jul 17
Aug 23
Sep 30
Oct 47
Nov 32
Dec 33
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chenango County

2,286 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 432
2022 619
2023 546
2024 365
2025 324
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 44 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
25
Cause undetermined
6%
3
Intentional / arson
6%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
9
Under investigation
9%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Chenango County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $999,999 Oxford Building fires Major
2 $160,000 Village of Sherburne Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Norwich Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Smyrna Building fires Significant
5 $35,000 Norwich Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Afton Building fires Significant
7 $25,000 City of Norwich Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $20,000 City of Norwich Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Afton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,050 Guilford Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Chenango County compares

Chenango County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.29
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chenango County
7.29
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chenango County
0.99
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chenango County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chenango County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36017.

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.