In 2025, fire departments serving Warren responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 67% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
77 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $12K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 75 | — |
* Well below Warren'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 4 building fires Warren departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Office | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Warren mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Warren departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Warren sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,208 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 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 35.7 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 | 02885 | 77 |
Six Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Warren. 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.