In 2025, fire departments serving East Millinocket responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
38 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 5 | -16.7% | |
| 2025 | 19 | +280.0% |
* Well below East Millinocket'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 8 building fires East Millinocket departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 25.0% |
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 East Millinocket mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Other static discharge | 1 | 25.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Millinocket departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Millinocket sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,297 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Smoking | 856 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Smoking | 236 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 97 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 93 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 82 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 67 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 60 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Other causes | 50 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 48.5 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 | 04430 | 38 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of East Millinocket. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in East Millinocket.
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.