In 2025, fire departments serving Barnstead responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
506 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $690K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022* | 55 | — | |
| 2023 | 65 | — | |
| 2024 | 191 | +193.8% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -59.2% |
* Well below Barnstead'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 1 building fires Barnstead departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | Other | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 Barnstead mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Barnstead departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Barnstead sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,920 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 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 9.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Barnstead. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Barnstead.
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.