In 2025, fire departments serving Laconia responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 40% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,343 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 309 | — | |
| 2022 | 313 | +1.3% | |
| 2023 | 263 | -16.0% | |
| 2024 | 292 | +11.0% | |
| 2025 | 166 | -43.2% |
For the 24 building fires Laconia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 222 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 | Undetermined | 36 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 32 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 59 | 26.6% |
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 Laconia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 119 | 53.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Laconia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,800 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Laconia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,200 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 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 24.0 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 Laconia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Laconia.
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.