In 2025, fire departments serving Northford responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
194 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $644K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 21 | — | |
| 2022* | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 37 | — | |
| 2024 | 75 | +102.7% | |
| 2025 | 44 | -41.3% |
* Well below Northford'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 0 building fires Northford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 17.6% |
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 Northford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northford departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,310 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 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 15.2 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 | 06472 | 194 |
Six Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Northford. 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.