In 2025, fire departments serving Meriden responded to 815 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,714 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 816 | — | |
| 2022 | 666 | -18.4% | |
| 2023 | 606 | -9.0% | |
| 2024 | 811 | +33.8% | |
| 2025 | 815 | +0.5% |
For the 18 building fires Meriden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 400 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 | 75 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 41 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 33 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 93 | 23.2% |
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 Meriden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 215 | 53.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 42 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Meriden departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $62,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $36,080 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $23,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Meriden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,531 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 22.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 17.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 17.2 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Meriden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.