In 2025, fire departments serving Keene responded to 347 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,580 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 282 | — | |
| 2022 | 348 | +23.4% | |
| 2023 | 283 | -18.7% | |
| 2024 | 320 | +13.1% | |
| 2025 | 347 | +8.4% |
For the 20 building fires Keene departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 163 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 | 25 | 15.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 14 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 12 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 48 | 29.4% |
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 Keene mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Keene departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $164,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $73,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Keene 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,188 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 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 45.7 mi |
Top 2 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 Keene. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Keene.
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.