In 2025, fire departments serving Plymouth responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | +13.8% | |
| 2025 | 12 | -63.6% |
* Well below Plymouth'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 3 building fires Plymouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Plymouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Munitions | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plymouth departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plymouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 891 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Other causes | 50 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 7.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 34 | 23.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 | 42.3 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 | 04969 | 98 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Plymouth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Plymouth.
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.