In 2025, fire departments serving New Castle responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. New Castle's departments reported 10 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 17 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +5.9% | |
| 2023 | 19 | +5.6% | |
| 2024 | 23 | +21.1% | |
| 2025* | 10 | — |
* Well below New Castle'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 New Castle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Castle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Castle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,540 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 22.1 mi |
Top 3 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 New Castle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Castle.
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.