In 2025, fire departments serving Derby responded to 127 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 43% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
650 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $830K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 188 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | -55.3% | |
| 2023 | 108 | +28.6% | |
| 2024 | 143 | +32.4% | |
| 2025 | 127 | -11.2% |
For the 1 building fires Derby departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | Outside area, other | 19 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 20.5% |
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 Derby mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 53.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Candle | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Derby departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Derby sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 7 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,652 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 34.7 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Derby. 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.