Home› Counties› NY› Delaware County
2025 County Report

Fires in Delaware County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Delaware County responded to 251 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

41,232 residents FIPS 36025 110 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
251
1,165 across 5 years
Building fires
19
3 wildland
Property loss
$268K
$213K structure · $54K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

251
Total Incidents
Power line down 49 19.5%
Hazardous condition, other 46 18.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 21 8.4%
Building fires 19 7.6%
Aircraft standby 16 6.4%
All other categories 100 39.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Delaware County?

Aug peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 22
Feb 16
Mar 19
Apr 19
May 17
Jun 18
Jul 15
Aug 36
Sep 19
Oct 34
Nov 23
Dec 13
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Delaware County

1,165 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 132
2022 201
2023 235
2024 346
2025 251
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
14
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
5%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
4
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $213K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Delaware County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Long EddyHancock Building fires Significant
2 $35,000 Hancock Water vehicle fire Significant
3 $20,000 Downsville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $5,000 Hancock Building fires Significant
5 $3,000 Town of Tompkins Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $100 TOWN OF TOMPKINS Building fires Significant
06 How Delaware County compares

Delaware County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
6.09
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
0.46
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
24.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Delaware County
24.3
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Delaware County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36025.

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.