In 2025, fire departments serving Bowdoin responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
207 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $109K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | — | |
| 2022* | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 56 | — | |
| 2024 | 50 | -10.7% | |
| 2025 | 33 | -34.0% |
* Well below Bowdoin'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 5 building fires Bowdoin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Undetermined | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Bowdoin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bowdoin departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bowdoin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 979 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 10.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Bowdoin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bowdoin.
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.