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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 600 fire and hazmat incidents.

128,834 residents FIPS 36079 49 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
600
2,676 across 5 years
Building fires
39
14 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

600
Total Incidents
Power line down 125 20.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 74 12.3%
Carbon monoxide incident 45 7.5%
Building fires 39 6.5%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 30 5.0%
All other categories 287 47.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 60
Feb 42
Mar 85
Apr 79
May 40
Jun 50
Jul 48
Aug 30
Sep 42
Oct 56
Nov 44
Dec 24
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

2,676 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 272
2022 609
2023 639
2024 556
2025 600
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 39 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
3
Cause undetermined
14%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
29%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.66
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
4.66
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.3
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
0.3
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36079.

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.