In 2025, fire departments serving Strafford responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
193 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $551K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | -23.8% | |
| 2023* | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 48 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | -47.9% |
* Well below Strafford'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 1 building fires Strafford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | Undetermined | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Strafford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 56.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 6.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Strafford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,695 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 13.6 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Hampshire cities with population within ±25% of Strafford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Strafford.
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.