In 2025, fire departments serving Exeter responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | +57.1% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -54.5% |
* Well below Exeter'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 5 building fires Exeter departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Interior stairway or ramp | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Exeter mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Other static discharge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Exeter sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 956 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 67 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 20.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Other causes | 50 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 20.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 34 | 10.8 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 | 04435 | 81 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Exeter. 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.