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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, NY

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 471 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $350K property loss.

69,341 residents FIPS 36115 81 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
471
2,294 across 5 years
Building fires
118
36 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$2.0M structure · $475K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.

471
Total Incidents
Building fires 118 25.1%
Power line down 93 19.7%
Hazardous condition, other 42 8.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 35 7.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 21 4.5%
All other categories 162 34.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 32
Feb 28
Mar 58
Apr 39
May 56
Jun 35
Jul 63
Aug 53
Sep 35
Oct 24
Nov 29
Dec 19
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

2,294 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 266
2022 551
2023 521
2024 485
2025 471
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 118 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
18
Cause undetermined
2%
1
Intentional / arson
11%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
28%
13
Under investigation
17%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Washington County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $350,000 Fort Ann Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $300,000 Salem Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Fort Ann Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
4 $250,000 Hudson Falls Building fires Major
5 $245,163 Fort Edward Building fires Significant
6 $212,000 Fort Ann Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 Salem Building fires Significant
8 $80,000 Fort Ann Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $75,000 Greenwich Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $15,000 Cambridge Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs NY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
6.79
NY avg
3.48
US avg
7.15
1.7
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
1.7
NY avg
0.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
NY avg
1.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 36115.

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.