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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 806 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

17,980 residents FIPS 12107 53 cities · 19 fire depts
Total incidents
806
4,369 across 5 years
Building fires
46
156 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$2.1M structure · $519K contents
Casualties
3 / 2
3 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.

806
Total Incidents
Power line down 119 14.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 100 12.4%
Unauthorized burning 62 7.7%
Hazardous condition, other 57 7.1%
Building fires 46 5.7%
All other categories 422 52.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 105
Feb 81
Mar 114
Apr 81
May 99
Jun 81
Jul 71
Aug 50
Sep 55
Oct 43
Nov 19
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

4,369 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 638
2022 1,037
2023 789
2024 1,099
2025 806
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 46 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
79
Cause undetermined
17%
31
Intentional / arson
15%
27
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
13
Under investigation
12%
22
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 58% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Melrose Building fires Major
2 $192,230 Interlachen Building fires Significant
3 $130,000 Crescent City Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Interlachen Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Melrose Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Melrose Building fires Significant
7 $98,590 MELROSE Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
8 $95,290 Palatka Building fires Significant
9 $86,750 Palatka Building fires Significant
10 $65,000 E Palatka Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

44.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
44.83
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
2.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
2.56
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
166.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
166.9
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 12107.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

19 departments report from this county.

PUTNAM COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES
Palatka
FDID 22171 503 incidents 62 paid 191 vol
PALATKA FIRE DEPT
PALATKA
FDID 22012 187 incidents 21 paid
CRESCENT CITY FIRE DEPT
Cresent City
FDID 22011 58 incidents
SOUTHWEST VOL FIRE DEPT
Palatka
FDID 22051 27 incidents 22 vol
WELAKA VOL FD
Welaka
FDID 22111 4 incidents 20 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.