In 2025, fire departments serving Andover responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
120 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $80K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 53 | +194.4% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -56.6% |
* Well below Andover'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 6 building fires Andover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 20.0% |
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 Andover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Andover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,824 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 45.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Andover. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Andover.
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.