In 2025, fire departments serving Harrisville responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents . 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.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
153 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | +35.3% | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 36 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | -38.9% |
* Well below Harrisville'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 2 building fires Harrisville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Closet | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 14.3% |
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 Harrisville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 4.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harrisville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,601 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 45.2 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 Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Harrisville. 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.