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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1 property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

7,043 residents FIPS 13237 16 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
143
1,125 across 5 years
Building fires
11
49 wildland
Property loss
$2
$1 structure · $1 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

143
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 36 25.2%
Authorized controlled burning 13 9.1%
Building fires 11 7.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 4.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 7 4.9%
All other categories 69 48.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 10
Feb 0
Mar 27
Apr 2
May 10
Jun 15
Jul 12
Aug 5
Sep 11
Oct 16
Nov 14
Dec 21
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

1,125 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 192
2022 307
2023 297
2024 186
2025 143
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
12
Cause undetermined
10%
3
Intentional / arson
7%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
1
Under investigation
28%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
0
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $1 in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1 Eatonton Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
20.3
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
1.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
1.56
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13237.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

2 departments report from this county.

Putnam County FD
Eatonton
FDID 11701 155 incidents 44 paid 8 vol
EATONTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Eatonton
FDID 11702 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in GA

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West Mims 2017 FWS 152,527
2 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Blackjack Island 2019 FWS 3,367
3 South Cut 2008 NPS 2,581
4 St. Catherines Island 2022 USFS 2,213
5 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Strange Island 2019 FWS 1,999
6 GAPDR-FY19-RX-6C/7S/8A/8B 2019 FWS 1,172
7 Barrow's Fire 2016 PRI 1,034
8 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Mitchell Island 2019 FWS 1,027
9 The Nicki Fire 2014 FWS 1,022
10 GAPDR-FY19-RX-27A/Stephens 2019 FWS 972

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.