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2025 County Report

Fires in Orange County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Orange County responded to 3,116 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $60K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

456,434 residents FIPS 36071 154 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
3,116
15,697 across 5 years
Building fires
186
52 wildland
Property loss
$463K
$257K structure · $206K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 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 57% of all calls.

3,116
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 582 18.7%
Hazardous condition, other 446 14.3%
Power line down 330 10.6%
Carbon monoxide incident 207 6.6%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 199 6.4%
All other categories 1,352 43.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Orange County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 251
Feb 246
Mar 334
Apr 369
May 314
Jun 249
Jul 258
Aug 223
Sep 223
Oct 282
Nov 233
Dec 134
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Orange County

15,697 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,069
2022 3,474
2023 3,644
2024 3,394
2025 3,116
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 186 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
77%
224
Cause undetermined
2%
6
Intentional / arson
1%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
20
Under investigation
12%
36
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $248K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Orange County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $60,000 Tuxedo Fire, other Significant
2 $50,000 Tuxedo Park Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $50,000 Tuxedo Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $25,000 Newburgh Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $25,000 Cornwall Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Cornwall Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $5,000 Walden Building fires Significant
8 $5,000 Walden Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $4,500 Middletown Building fires Significant
10 $3,500 Middletown Building fires Significant
06 How Orange County compares

Orange County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Orange County
6.83
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.41
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Orange County
0.41
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Orange County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Orange County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36071.

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.