In 2025, fire departments serving Columbia County responded to 357 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips.
3,060 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 598 | |
| 2022 | 682 | |
| 2023 | 1,004 | |
| 2024 | 419 | |
| 2025 | 357 |
For the 69 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Columbia County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Valatie | Building fires | Significant |
| 2 | $100,000 | Hudson | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $30,000 | Ghent | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $20,000 | Niverville | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $10,000 | Valatie | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 6 | $8,000 | Ghent | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant |
| 7 | $8,000 | Ghent | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant |
| 8 | $8,000 | Valatie | Fire, other | Significant |
| 9 | $7,000 | Ghent | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant |
| 10 | $5,000 | ClaverackRed Mills | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 36021.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.