In 2025, fire departments serving Derry responded to 268 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $124K 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 54% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,317 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 262 | — | |
| 2022 | 279 | +6.5% | |
| 2023 | 237 | -15.1% | |
| 2024 | 271 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 268 | -1.1% |
For the 26 building fires Derry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 253 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 | 35 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 28 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 30.4% |
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 Derry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 108 | 42.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 15 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Derry departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $124,175 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $119,925 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $117,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $105,616 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $76,520 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $69,240 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Derry sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,266 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 31.7 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 New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Derry. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Derry.
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.