In 2025, fire departments serving Cranston responded to 400 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,931 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 435 | — | |
| 2022 | 444 | +2.1% | |
| 2023 | 609 | +37.2% | |
| 2024* | 43 | — | |
| 2025 | 400 | — |
* Well below Cranston'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 16 building fires Cranston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 182 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 | 50 | 27.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 19.8% |
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 Cranston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 4.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cranston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cranston sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,195 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 31.1 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Cranston. 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.