In 2025, fire departments serving Madbury responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 83% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
177 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 48 | — | |
| 2024 | 49 | +2.1% | |
| 2025 | 36 | -26.5% |
* Well below Madbury'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 2 building fires Madbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | Other | 7 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 25.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 3.7% |
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 Madbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Madbury departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Madbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,796 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 25.2 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 Madbury. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Madbury.
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.