In 2025, fire departments serving Concord responded to 271 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 45% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,861 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 379 | — | |
| 2022 | 399 | +5.3% | |
| 2023 | 395 | -1.0% | |
| 2024 | 417 | +5.6% | |
| 2025 | 271 | -35.0% |
For the 35 building fires Concord departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 317 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 46 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 39 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 26 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 89 | 28.1% |
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 Concord mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 156 | 49.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 32 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Concord departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $26,560 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $19,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $13,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Concord sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,459 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 2.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 7.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 40.8 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Concord. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Concord.
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.