In 2025, fire departments serving New London responded to 339 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,806 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 412 | — | |
| 2022 | 394 | -4.4% | |
| 2023 | 344 | -12.7% | |
| 2024 | 317 | -7.8% | |
| 2025 | 339 | +6.9% |
For the 42 building fires New London departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 354 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 | 92 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 24 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Entrance way, lobby | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 96 | 27.1% |
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 London mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 193 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 21 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New London departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $215,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New London sits above 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,935 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 152 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 75 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 75 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 70 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 45.7 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 Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of New London. 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.