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2025 County Report

Fires in St. Lawrence County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving St. Lawrence County responded to 484 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $131K property loss.

112,652 residents FIPS 36089 151 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
484
2,438 across 5 years
Building fires
61
13 wildland
Property loss
$356K
$292K structure · $64K contents
Casualties
7 / 0
7 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

484
Total Incidents
Power line down 87 18.0%
Building fires 61 12.6%
Unauthorized burning 52 10.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 38 7.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 22 4.5%
All other categories 224 46.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in St. Lawrence County?

Oct peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 54
Feb 46
Mar 51
Apr 28
May 36
Jun 38
Jul 36
Aug 31
Sep 38
Oct 57
Nov 46
Dec 23
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in St. Lawrence County

2,438 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 236
2022 677
2023 553
2024 488
2025 484
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 61 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
37
Cause undetermined
8%
5
Intentional / arson
12%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
6
Under investigation
12%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $292K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in St. Lawrence County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $131,000 Massena Building fires Significant
2 $89,900 Massena Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 Canton Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 Massena Building fires Significant
5 $15,000 Potsdam Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Ogdensburg Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 Massena Building fires Significant
8 $5,000 Massena Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 Ogdensburg Water vehicle fire Significant
10 $1,000 Ogdensburg Building fires Significant
06 How St. Lawrence County compares

St. Lawrence County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
St. Lawrence County
4.3
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
St. Lawrence County
0.54
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
62.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
St. Lawrence County
62.1
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in St. Lawrence County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36089.

CityPopulation 
Potsdam 15,015 View ›
Massena 12,421 View ›
Canton 11,681 View ›
Ogdensburg 9,902 View ›
Gouverneur 6,661 View ›
Norfolk 4,460 View ›
Lisbon 4,224 View ›
Oswegatchie 4,125 View ›
Stockholm 3,824 View ›
Louisville 3,046 View ›
Morristown 2,808 View ›
Brasher 2,607 View ›
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.