In 2025, fire departments serving Bristol responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
666 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 198 | — | |
| 2022 | 174 | -12.1% | |
| 2023 | 93 | -46.6% | |
| 2024 | 112 | +20.4% | |
| 2025 | 89 | -20.5% |
For the 13 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 352 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 199 | 56.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 36 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 15 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 14.2% |
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 | Heat source: other | 205 | 58.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 71 | 20.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bristol departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bristol sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,199 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 36.6 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 Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Bristol. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bristol.
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.