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2025 County Report

Fires in Monroe County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Monroe County responded to 2,619 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

804,395 residents FIPS 36055 108 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
2,619
23,989 across 5 years
Building fires
135
12 wildland
Property loss
$30K
$24K structure · $6K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

2,619
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 527 20.1%
Power line down 319 12.2%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 308 11.8%
Hazardous condition, other 194 7.4%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 172 6.6%
All other categories 1,099 42.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Monroe County?

Oct peaks. May dips.

Jan 159
Feb 139
Mar 214
Apr 141
May 109
Jun 144
Jul 175
Aug 178
Sep 129
Oct 535
Nov 518
Dec 178
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Monroe County

23,989 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 4,933
2022 5,302
2023 6,499
2024 4,636
2025 2,619
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 135 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
4
Cause undetermined
33%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $24K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 SPENCERPORT Building fires Significant
2 $5,000 Rochester Building fires Significant
3 $2,500 Rochester Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
4 $1,000 Rochester Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
5 $100 CHURCHVILLE Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
6 $100 W Henrietta Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
7 $1 Rush Building fires Significant
8 $1 Rochester Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
9 $1 Rochester Building fires Significant
10 $1 Rochester Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Monroe County compares

Monroe County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.26
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
3.26
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
0.17
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Monroe County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Monroe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36055.

CityPopulation 
Rochester 210,992 View ›
Greece 96,284 View ›
Irondequoit 50,780 View ›
Perinton 47,234 View ›
Henrietta 46,451 View ›
Webster 45,223 View ›
Penfield 39,089 View ›
Brighton 36,819 View ›
Pittsford 30,480 View ›
Gates 29,262 View ›
Chili 29,101 View ›
Ogden 20,263 View ›
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.