In 2025, fire departments serving Narragansett responded to 165 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
885 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $255K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 230 | — | |
| 2022 | 247 | +7.4% | |
| 2023 | 239 | -3.2% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 165 | — |
* Well below Narragansett'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 Narragansett departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 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 | 17 | 15.6% | |
| 2 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 33.9% |
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 Narragansett mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 45.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Narragansett departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Narragansett sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 837 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 42.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 34.0 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 Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Narragansett. 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.