In 2025, fire departments serving Dover responded to 103 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $270K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
627 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 118 | — | |
| 2022 | 133 | +12.7% | |
| 2023 | 94 | -29.3% | |
| 2024 | 179 | +90.4% | |
| 2025 | 103 | -42.5% |
For the 22 building fires Dover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 146 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 | 71 | 48.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 12.3% |
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 Dover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 109 | 74.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dover departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $270,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,873 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 5,091 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 4,000 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,983 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,014 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,008 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,653 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,591 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,470 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,435 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,401 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,340 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,063 | 42.1 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 Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Dover. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dover.
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.