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2025 County Report

Fires in Queens County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Queens County responded to 59,226 fire and hazmat incidents.

11,027,931 residents FIPS 36081 7 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
59,226
239,448 across 5 years
Building fires
1,141
121 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
13 / 598
13 civ deaths · 276 civ inj · 322 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.

59,226
Total Incidents
Cooking fire, confined to container 17,097 28.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 16,159 27.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 5,306 9.0%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 4,751 8.0%
Hazardous condition, other 4,192 7.1%
All other categories 11,721 19.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Queens County?

Oct peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 5,631
Feb 4,857
Mar 2,582
Apr 4,971
May 5,056
Jun 5,415
Jul 5,538
Aug 4,988
Sep 4,622
Oct 5,890
Nov 5,428
Dec 4,248
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Queens County

239,448 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 45,196
2022 61,329
2023 58,314
2024 15,383
2025 59,226
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1,141 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
4%
187
Cause undetermined
7%
350
Intentional / arson
1%
39
Equipment / heat source failure
30%
1,447
Under investigation
57%
2,707
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
55
06 How Queens County compares

Queens County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Queens County
5.37
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.1
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Queens County
0.1
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
1.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Queens County
1.2
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Queens County

7 cities mapped to FIPS 36081.

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.