In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Kent responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $535K 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 69% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
134 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | -31.4% | |
| 2024 | 28 | +16.7% | |
| 2025 | 32 | +14.3% |
* Well below Fort Kent'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 12 building fires Fort Kent departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 17.2% |
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 Fort Kent mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 37.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Kent departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $535,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $64,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Kent sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,597 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,092 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 161 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 129 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 125 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 110 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56 | 3.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 53 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 22.5 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 | 04743 | 134 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Fort Kent. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Kent.
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.