In 2025, fire departments serving New Haven responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
44 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $513K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | -41.7% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | +100.0% |
* 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 7 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 12 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 | Other | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Haven departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Haven sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,609 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 310 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 303 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 242 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 201 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 197 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 46.5 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 | 25265 | 44 |
Six West Virginia cities with population within ±25% of New Haven. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Haven.
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.