In 2025, fire departments serving Augusta responded to 201 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $95K 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 53% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,009 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 202 | — | |
| 2022 | 220 | +8.9% | |
| 2023 | 191 | -13.2% | |
| 2024 | 195 | +2.1% | |
| 2025 | 201 | +3.1% |
For the 37 building fires Augusta departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 323 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 132 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 39 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 25 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 58 | 18.0% |
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 Augusta mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 30.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 92 | 28.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 38 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 35 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 12 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Augusta departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $95,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,550 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $17,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Augusta sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 759 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 5.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 23.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 32.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 21.6 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 Maine cities with population within ±25% of Augusta. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Augusta.
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.