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2025 County Report

Fires in Oswego County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Oswego County responded to 1,360 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $170K property loss.

121,120 residents FIPS 36075 119 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
1,360
5,250 across 5 years
Building fires
342
22 wildland
Property loss
$465K
$369K structure · $96K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 72% of all calls.

1,360
Total Incidents
Power line down 343 25.2%
Building fires 342 25.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 128 9.4%
Hazardous condition, other 105 7.7%
Carbon monoxide incident 68 5.0%
All other categories 374 27.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Oswego County?

Feb peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 124
Feb 330
Mar 135
Apr 102
May 75
Jun 113
Jul 86
Aug 80
Sep 69
Oct 128
Nov 104
Dec 14
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Oswego County

5,250 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 561
2022 1,157
2023 1,064
2024 1,108
2025 1,360
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 342 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
12
Cause undetermined
12%
3
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
3
Under investigation
21%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $368K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $170,000 Oswego Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 FULTON Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
3 $50,000 City of Oswego Building fires Significant
4 $25,000 FULTON Hazardous condition, other Significant
5 $20,000 FULTON Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
6 $20,000 PENNELLVILLE Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
7 $15,000 City of Oswego Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $8,000 City of Oswego Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $5,000 Oswego Building fires Significant
10 $5,000 City of Oswego Building fires Significant
06 How Oswego County compares

Oswego County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.23
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Oswego County
11.23
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
2.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Oswego County
2.82
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Oswego County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Oswego County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36075.

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.