In 2025, fire departments serving Bristol responded to 525 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,229 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $5.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 911 | — | |
| 2022 | 493 | -45.9% | |
| 2023 | 553 | +12.2% | |
| 2024 | 747 | +35.1% | |
| 2025 | 525 | -29.7% |
For the 16 building fires Bristol departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 392 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 | 80 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 34 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 115 | 29.3% |
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 Bristol mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 203 | 51.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 37 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 18 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bristol departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $26,549 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bristol sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
358 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 58 | |
| 30-39 | 117 | |
| 40-49 | 112 | |
| 50-59 | 60 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,660 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 21.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 6.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 6.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 6.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 154 | 29.3 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 Bristol. 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.