In 2025, fire departments serving Conway responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
178 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $557K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 40 | — | |
| 2022 | 52 | +30.0% | |
| 2023 | 33 | -36.5% | |
| 2024 | 28 | -15.2% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -10.7% |
For the 7 building fires Conway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Conway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Conway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,072 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 51 | 23.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 50 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 47 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 47 | 22.7 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Conway. 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.