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2025 County Report

Fires in Seneca County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Seneca County responded to 182 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5K property loss.

34,154 residents FIPS 36099 44 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
182
1,392 across 5 years
Building fires
58
3 wildland
Property loss
$5K
$5K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

182
Total Incidents
Building fires 58 31.9%
Power line down 40 22.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 5.5%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 8 4.4%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 7 3.8%
All other categories 59 32.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Seneca County?

Jan peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 46
Feb 19
Mar 25
Apr 11
May 8
Jun 10
Jul 12
Aug 10
Sep 4
Oct 15
Nov 18
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Seneca County

1,392 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 223
2022 410
2023 300
2024 277
2025 182
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 58 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
8
Cause undetermined
11%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
3
Under investigation
11%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
20%
0
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $5K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,000 Interlaken Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
06 How Seneca County compares

Seneca County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Seneca County
5.33
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
1.7
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Seneca County
1.7
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Seneca County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Seneca County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36099.

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.