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2025 County Report

Fires in Jefferson County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson County responded to 631 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

150,472 residents FIPS 36045 113 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
631
4,382 across 5 years
Building fires
122
47 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.5M structure · $352K 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 62% of all calls.

631
Total Incidents
Power line down 137 21.7%
Building fires 122 19.3%
Aircraft standby 78 12.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 29 4.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 28 4.4%
All other categories 237 37.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jefferson County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 27
Feb 75
Mar 105
Apr 46
May 44
Jun 77
Jul 48
Aug 56
Sep 33
Oct 61
Nov 31
Dec 28
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jefferson County

4,382 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 837
2022 1,055
2023 1,036
2024 823
2025 631
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 122 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
17
Cause undetermined
26%
12
Intentional / arson
11%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
7
Under investigation
7%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jefferson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Philadelphia Building fires Major
2 $300,000 HENDERSON Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $250,000 MANNSVILLE Building fires Major
4 $238,100 Lorraine Building fires Significant
5 $65,000 ADAMS Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $50,000 Philadelphia Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 PIERREPONT MANOR Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $10,000 Adams Vehicle accident, general cleanup Significant
9 $10,000 Adams Vehicle accident, general cleanup Significant
10 $10,000 Evans Mills Building fires Significant
06 How Jefferson County compares

Jefferson County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.19
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
4.19
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.81
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
0.81
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
6.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jefferson County
6.6
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jefferson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36045.

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.