In 2025, fire departments serving Norwich responded to 80 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 61% of all calls.
Jun peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
504 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | — | |
| 2022 | 167 | +145.6% | |
| 2023 | 129 | -22.8% | |
| 2024* | 60 | — | |
| 2025 | 80 | — |
* Well below Norwich'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 9 building fires Norwich departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 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 | 12 | 11.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 38.5% |
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 Norwich mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norwich departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norwich sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 955 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 65 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 19.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 40 | 26.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 40 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 49.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Norwich. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norwich.
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.