In 2025, fire departments serving Bridgeport responded to 770 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $525K 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 47% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,075 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $22.0M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,410 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,306 | -7.4% | |
| 2023 | 1,294 | -0.9% | |
| 2024 | 1,295 | +0.1% | |
| 2025 | 770 | -40.5% |
For the 64 building fires Bridgeport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,184 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 | 236 | 19.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 142 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 137 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 117 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 58 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 51 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 41 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 37 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 35 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 34 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 296 | 25.0% |
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 Bridgeport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 811 | 68.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 92 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 63 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 31 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 12 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 70 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bridgeport departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $525,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bridgeport sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
53 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,614 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 28.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 41.4 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Bridgeport. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.