In 2025, fire departments serving Londonderry responded to 321 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $804K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,356 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 186 | — | |
| 2022 | 261 | +40.3% | |
| 2023 | 295 | +13.0% | |
| 2024 | 293 | -0.7% | |
| 2025 | 321 | +9.6% |
For the 20 building fires Londonderry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 245 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 | 51 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 17 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 48 | 19.6% |
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 Londonderry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 82 | 33.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 31 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 16 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Londonderry departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $803,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $187,433 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $97,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Londonderry sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,081 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 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 34.4 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 Londonderry. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Londonderry.
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.