Home› Counties› NY› Suffolk County
2025 County Report

Fires in Suffolk County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Suffolk County responded to 4,366 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,934,868 residents FIPS 36103 255 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
4,366
24,377 across 5 years
Building fires
401
60 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

4,366
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 585 13.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 467 10.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 412 9.4%
Building fires 401 9.2%
Cooking fire, confined to container 338 7.7%
All other categories 2,163 49.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Suffolk County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 364
Feb 326
Mar 459
Apr 295
May 337
Jun 405
Jul 434
Aug 389
Sep 305
Oct 411
Nov 415
Dec 226
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Suffolk County

24,377 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3,472
2022 5,243
2023 6,427
2024 4,869
2025 4,366
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 401 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
33
Cause undetermined
9%
7
Intentional / arson
3%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
12
Under investigation
29%
23
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
06 How Suffolk County compares

Suffolk County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

1.49
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Suffolk County
1.49
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.14
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Suffolk County
0.14
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Suffolk County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Suffolk County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36103.

CityPopulation 
Brookhaven 487,162 View ›
Islip 339,123 View ›
Babylon 217,830 View ›
Huntington 203,808 View ›
Smithtown 116,157 View ›
Southampton 68,441 View ›
Brentwood 65,042 View ›
West Babylon 42,783 View ›
Coram 42,169 View ›
Central Islip 36,519 View ›
Commack 35,770 View ›
Riverhead 35,759 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.