In 2025, fire departments serving Naugatuck responded to 438 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,165 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 283 | — | |
| 2022 | 484 | +71.0% | |
| 2023 | 497 | +2.7% | |
| 2024 | 463 | -6.8% | |
| 2025 | 438 | -5.4% |
For the 0 building fires Naugatuck departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 243 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 50 | 20.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 34 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 25 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 9.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 52 | 21.4% |
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 Naugatuck mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Naugatuck departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Naugatuck sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,948 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 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 25.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 277 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 240 | 49.5 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 Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Naugatuck. 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.