In 2025, fire departments serving Rumford responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
405 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 67 | — | |
| 2022 | 85 | +26.9% | |
| 2023 | 97 | +14.1% | |
| 2024 | 78 | -19.6% | |
| 2025 | 78 | +0.0% |
For the 11 building fires Rumford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 100 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 | 15 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 13 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 10 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 6 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 28.0% |
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 Rumford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 6 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 8.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rumford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,240 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 3.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 43 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 35.8 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 Maine cities with population within ±25% of Rumford. 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.