In 2025, fire departments serving Conway responded to 103 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 78% of all calls.
Aug peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
371 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 87 | +70.6% | |
| 2023 | 90 | +3.4% | |
| 2024* | 40 | — | |
| 2025 | 103 | — |
* Well below Conway'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 Conway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Closet | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Conway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 7.1% |
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. 2,155 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 31.7 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 New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Conway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Conway.
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.