In 2025, fire departments serving Newport responded to 217 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,094 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $12.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 252 | — | |
| 2022 | 195 | -22.6% | |
| 2023 | 214 | +9.7% | |
| 2024 | 216 | +0.9% | |
| 2025 | 217 | +0.5% |
For the 17 building fires Newport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 291 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 71 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 54 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 89 | 30.6% |
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 Newport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 101 | 34.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 23 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newport departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Water vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
126 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 27 | |
| 30-39 | 42 | |
| 40-49 | 31 | |
| 50-59 | 18 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 888 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 43.3 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Newport. 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.