In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
62 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $14K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 8 | -38.5% | |
| 2023 | 22 | +175.0% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Jefferson'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 0 building fires Jefferson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Jefferson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jefferson departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jefferson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,425 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 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 32.6 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 | 03583 | 62 |
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Jefferson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jefferson.
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.