In 2025, fire departments serving New Milford responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
163 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | — | |
| 2023 | 47 | +23.7% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -29.8% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -15.2% |
* Well below New Milford'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 Milford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | 10 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 22.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 20.0% |
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 Milford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Match | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 7.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Milford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,097 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 47.8 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 Illinois cities with population within ±25% of New Milford. 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.