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2025 County Report

Fires in Tioga County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Tioga County responded to 196 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $120K property loss.

59,266 residents FIPS 36107 56 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
196
1,070 across 5 years
Building fires
46
10 wildland
Property loss
$258K
$140K structure · $118K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 59% of all calls.

196
Total Incidents
Building fires 46 23.5%
Power line down 25 12.8%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 18 9.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 8.7%
Hazardous condition, other 9 4.6%
All other categories 81 41.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Tioga County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 19
Feb 20
Mar 14
Apr 17
May 9
Jun 23
Jul 25
Aug 19
Sep 14
Oct 13
Nov 17
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Tioga County

1,070 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 160
2022 196
2023 308
2024 210
2025 196
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 46 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
9
Cause undetermined
14%
3
Intentional / arson
10%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
2
Under investigation
14%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
2
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $140K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Tioga County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $120,000 Barton Building fires Significant
2 $20,000 Owego Building fires Significant
3 $1 Tioga Center Building fires Significant
4 $1 Village of Nichols Building fires Significant
06 How Tioga County compares

Tioga County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Tioga County
3.31
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
0.78
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Tioga County
0.78
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
16.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Tioga County
16.9
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Tioga County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36107.

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.