In 2025, fire departments serving Gorham responded to 181 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,193 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 179 | — | |
| 2022 | 301 | +68.2% | |
| 2023 | 268 | -11.0% | |
| 2024 | 264 | -1.5% | |
| 2025 | 181 | -31.4% |
For the 15 building fires Gorham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 225 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 37 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 34 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 68 | 30.2% |
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 Gorham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 41 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 20 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Match | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 14.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gorham departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gorham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,953 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 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 35.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Gorham. 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.