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2025 County Report

Fires in Orleans County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Orleans County responded to 305 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

46,855 residents FIPS 36073 56 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
305
1,612 across 5 years
Building fires
32
7 wildland
Property loss
$380K
$298K structure · $82K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

305
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 88 28.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 47 15.4%
Power line down 36 11.8%
Building fires 32 10.5%
Outside rubbish fire, other 17 5.6%
All other categories 85 27.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Orleans County?

Oct peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 21
Feb 20
Mar 33
Apr 20
May 19
Jun 22
Jul 29
Aug 27
Sep 11
Oct 37
Nov 37
Dec 29
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Orleans County

1,612 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 272
2022 351
2023 309
2024 375
2025 305
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
12
Cause undetermined
11%
3
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
6
Under investigation
19%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $298K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Medina Building fires Significant
2 $75,000 Medina Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $75,000 Medina Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 MEDINA Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 Albion Building fires Significant
6 $7,500 MEDINA Building fires Significant
7 $7,000 Medina Building fires Significant
8 $2,500 Medina Building fires Significant
9 $800 Medina Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $250 MEDINA Fire, other Significant
06 How Orleans County compares

Orleans County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Orleans County
6.51
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.68
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Orleans County
0.68
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
21.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Orleans County
21.3
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Orleans County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36073.

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.