In 2025, fire departments serving Hampton responded to 213 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,069 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 215 | — | |
| 2022 | 227 | +5.6% | |
| 2023 | 195 | -14.1% | |
| 2024 | 219 | +12.3% | |
| 2025 | 213 | -2.7% |
For the 26 building fires Hampton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 140 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 | Outside area, other | 16 | 11.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 12 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 32.9% |
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 Hampton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 41.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hampton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $38,463 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,500 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $6,084 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hampton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,543 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 40.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Hampton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hampton.
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.