In 2025, fire departments serving Dalton responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $52K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | — |
* Well below Dalton'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 4 building fires Dalton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Dalton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dalton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dalton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,520 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 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 47.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03598 | 34 |
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Dalton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dalton.
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.