In 2025, fire departments serving West Bath responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
64 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -58.6% | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | +55.6% |
* Well below West Bath'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 West Bath departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.3% |
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 West Bath mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Bath sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 847 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 19.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 46.4 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 West Bath. 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.