In 2025, fire departments serving Effingham responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
247 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 37 | — | |
| 2022* | 26 | — | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 91 | — | |
| 2025 | 76 | -16.5% |
* Well below Effingham'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 9 building fires Effingham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Effingham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Effingham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,118 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 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 13.7 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 Effingham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Effingham.
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.