In 2025, fire departments serving Bennington responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | -4.3% | |
| 2023 | 30 | +36.4% | |
| 2024 | 16 | -46.7% | |
| 2025 | 27 | +68.8% |
For the 0 building fires Bennington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Bennington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bennington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,505 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 39.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Bennington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bennington.
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.