Home› Counties› NY› Herkimer County
2025 County Report

Fires in Herkimer County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Herkimer County responded to 299 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

70,874 residents FIPS 36043 93 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
299
1,419 across 5 years
Building fires
48
10 wildland
Property loss
$279K
$212K structure · $67K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 54% of all calls.

299
Total Incidents
Power line down 62 20.7%
Building fires 48 16.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 25 8.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 14 4.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 12 4.0%
All other categories 138 46.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Herkimer County?

Jun peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 27
Feb 41
Mar 27
Apr 27
May 29
Jun 45
Jul 21
Aug 14
Sep 14
Oct 26
Nov 21
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Herkimer County

1,419 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 204
2022 316
2023 289
2024 311
2025 299
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 48 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
17
Cause undetermined
15%
6
Intentional / arson
18%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
4
Under investigation
10%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $212K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 BARNEVELD Building fires Significant
2 $40,000 BARNEVELD Building fires Significant
3 $30,000 Dolgeville Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 Frankfort Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 Ilion Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $5,000 Ilion Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 Ilion Building fires Significant
8 $1,000 ILION Building fires Significant
9 $500 west winfield Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
10 $500 NewHartford Building fires Significant
06 How Herkimer County compares

Herkimer County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.22
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Herkimer County
4.22
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.68
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Herkimer County
0.68
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Herkimer County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Herkimer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36043.

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.