In 2025, fire departments serving Exeter responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $144K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | — | |
| 2022 | 119 | +29.3% | |
| 2023 | 46 | -61.3% | |
| 2024* | 23 | — | |
| 2025 | 88 | — |
* 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 10 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 82 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 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 7 | 8.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 23.2% |
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 | Undetermined | 25 | 30.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 18.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Exeter departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Exeter sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,346 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 25.0 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Rhode Island 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.