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2025 County Report

Fires in Schenectady County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Schenectady County responded to 1,042 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

179,541 residents FIPS 36093 38 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
1,042
5,897 across 5 years
Building fires
115
41 wildland
Property loss
$715K
$549K structure · $167K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 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.

1,042
Total Incidents
Power line down 127 12.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 116 11.1%
Building fires 115 11.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 101 9.7%
Unauthorized burning 88 8.4%
All other categories 495 47.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Schenectady County?

Oct peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 69
Feb 86
Mar 100
Apr 98
May 97
Jun 92
Jul 106
Aug 103
Sep 92
Oct 129
Nov 35
Dec 35
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Schenectady County

5,897 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 538
2022 1,577
2023 1,758
2024 982
2025 1,042
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 115 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
35
Cause undetermined
11%
7
Intentional / arson
15%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
5
Under investigation
6%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $495K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Schenectady County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Schenectady Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Schenectady Outside equipment fire Significant
3 $80,000 Schenectady Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Schenectady Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $50,000 SCHENECTADY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $35,000 Schenectady Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 Niskayuna Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Glenville Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Niskayuna Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Schenectady Special outside fire, other Significant
06 How Schenectady County compares

Schenectady County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Schenectady County
5.8
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.64
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Schenectady County
0.64
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Schenectady County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Schenectady County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36093.

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.