In 2025, fire departments serving Canton responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
96 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | -20.0% | |
| 2025 | 38 | +137.5% |
* Well below Canton'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 2 building fires Canton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Canton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 86.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 775 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 19.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 43 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 8.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 32 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 37.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Canton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Canton.
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.