In 2025, fire departments serving Manchester responded to 841 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $580K 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 45% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,532 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8.4M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 454 | — | |
| 2022 | 661 | +45.6% | |
| 2023 | 810 | +22.5% | |
| 2024 | 766 | -5.4% | |
| 2025 | 841 | +9.8% |
For the 57 building fires Manchester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 927 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 | 135 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 126 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 110 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 84 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 62 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 59 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 43 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 29 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 26 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 226 | 24.4% |
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 Manchester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 312 | 33.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 85 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 81 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 67 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 59 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 42 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 42 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 38 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 24 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 135 | 14.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Manchester departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $580,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $372,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $275,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $255,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $213,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $140,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Manchester sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
523 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 44 | |
| 30-39 | 202 | |
| 40-49 | 191 | |
| 50-59 | 62 | |
| 60-69 | 17 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,105 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 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 41.9 mi |
Top 8 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 Manchester. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Manchester.
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.