In 2025, fire departments serving Lyme responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
147 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $672K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 47 | — | |
| 2023 | 23 | -51.1% | |
| 2024 | 45 | +95.7% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -37.8% |
* Well below Lyme'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 Lyme departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 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 Lyme mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lyme sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,662 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 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 48.5 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 | 03768 | 147 |
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Lyme. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lyme.
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.