In 2025, fire departments serving Berlin responded to 178 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
806 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 162 | — | |
| 2022 | 169 | +4.3% | |
| 2023 | 141 | -16.6% | |
| 2024 | 156 | +10.6% | |
| 2025 | 178 | +14.1% |
For the 11 building fires Berlin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 113 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 | 20 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 28.3% |
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 Berlin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 22.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 14 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Berlin departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Berlin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,396 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 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 42.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03570 | 806 |
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Berlin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Berlin.
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.