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2025 County Report

Fires in Belknap County, NH

In 2025, fire departments serving Belknap County responded to 678 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss.

66,949 residents FIPS 33001 43 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
678
3,970 across 5 years
Building fires
80
101 wildland
Property loss
$3.3M
$2.6M structure · $717K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

678
Total Incidents
Power line down 115 17.0%
Building fires 80 11.8%
Unauthorized burning 60 8.8%
Hazardous condition, other 53 7.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 44 6.5%
All other categories 326 48.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Belknap County?

Aug peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 43
Feb 54
Mar 68
Apr 42
May 46
Jun 79
Jul 55
Aug 99
Sep 81
Oct 49
Nov 23
Dec 39
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Belknap County

3,970 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 814
2022 807
2023 710
2024 961
2025 678
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 80 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
72
Cause undetermined
11%
14
Intentional / arson
14%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
16
Under investigation
5%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Belknap County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 Northfield Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $400,000 Tilton Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Northfield Building fires Major
4 $250,000 Tilton Building fires Major
5 $200,000 Northfield Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Alton Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Gilford Building fires Significant
8 $70,000 Northfield Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Alton Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $50,000 Alton Building fires Significant
06 How Belknap County compares

Belknap County vs NH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Belknap County
10.13
NH avg
11.14
US avg
7.15
1.19
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Belknap County
1.19
NH avg
1.48
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Belknap County
0
NH avg
7.7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Belknap County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 33001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Belknap County

12 departments report from this county.

TiltonNorthfield Fire Dept
Tilton
FDID 01305 184 incidents 13 paid 43 vol
Laconia Fire Department
Laconia
FDID 00905 174 incidents 31 paid
Belmont Fire Department
BELMONT
FDID 00405 166 incidents 12 paid
Alton Fire Department
Alton
FDID 00105 143 incidents
Meredith Fire Department
—
FDID 01005 123 incidents 1 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NH

Top 5 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Covered Bridge 2016 USFS 329
2 Moat K and L RX 2023 USFS 76
3 Dilly 2017 USFS 72
4 Moat Unit J RX 2023 USFS 22
5 Crooked River Causeway 2019 USFS 11

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.