In 2025, fire departments serving Portsmouth responded to 161 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $205K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
758 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $17.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161 | — | |
| 2022 | 148 | -8.1% | |
| 2023 | 116 | -21.6% | |
| 2024 | 172 | +48.3% | |
| 2025 | 161 | -6.4% |
For the 12 building fires Portsmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | 23 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 15 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 22.8% |
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 Portsmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 47.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 16 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Portsmouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $205,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Portsmouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,196 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.6 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 Portsmouth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Portsmouth.
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.