In 2025, fire departments serving New Durham responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
154 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $50K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | +60.7% | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | — | |
| 2025 | 44 | +76.0% |
* Well below New Durham'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 1 building fires New Durham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 6 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Durham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Durham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,980 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 20.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 18.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03855 | 154 |
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of New Durham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Durham.
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.