In 2025, fire departments serving Colchester responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
29 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $20K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | +150.0% | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | — |
* Well below Colchester'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 0 building fires Colchester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Chimney (conversion only) | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Colchester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Colchester sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,057 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 388 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 175 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 163 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 146 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 143 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 17.9 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 New York cities with population within ±25% of Colchester. 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.