In 2025, fire departments serving West Haven responded to 136 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 57% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
366 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $942K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 89 | — | |
| 2024 | 114 | +28.1% | |
| 2025 | 136 | +19.3% |
* Well below West Haven'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 20 building fires West Haven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 61 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 | 22 | 36.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 13.1% |
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 Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 49.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Haven departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Haven sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 250,692 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 40,000 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 24,594 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Firearms and explosives use | 16,267 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,116 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 15,330 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 15,046 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 14,293 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 11,200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 10,500 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Firearms and explosives use | 9,880 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Firearms and explosives use | 6,848 | 37.9 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of West Haven. 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.