In 2025, fire departments serving New Haven responded to 79 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
285 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $426K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 86 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | -25.6% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 52 | — | |
| 2025 | 79 | +51.9% |
* Well below New Haven'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 Haven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | 25 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Closet | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 9.1% |
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 Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 83.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Haven departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Haven sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 203 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 3.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 46.5 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of New Haven. 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.