In 2025, fire departments serving Acworth responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $96K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
134 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $480K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | -20.0% | |
| 2024 | 44 | +120.0% | |
| 2025 | 31 | -29.5% |
* Well below Acworth's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 7 building fires Acworth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Acworth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Acworth departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $96,458 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Acworth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,425 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 47 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 46 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 43.9 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Acworth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.