In 2025, fire departments serving New Britain responded to 520 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $379K 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 45% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,617 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $21.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 585 | — | |
| 2022 | 574 | -1.9% | |
| 2023 | 534 | -7.0% | |
| 2024 | 404 | -24.3% | |
| 2025 | 520 | +28.7% |
For the 35 building fires New Britain departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 742 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 | 145 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 85 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 75 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 69 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 36 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 34 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 25 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 24 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Other | 22 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 204 | 27.5% |
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 New Britain mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 439 | 59.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 39 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 30 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 28 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 24 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Match | 9 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 67 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Britain departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $378,757 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $242,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $216,058 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Britain sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
36 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,660 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 14.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 14.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 154 | 37.3 mi |
Top 10 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 New Britain. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Britain.
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.