In 2025, fire departments serving Cheshire County responded to 614 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips.
2,704 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 519 | |
| 2022 | 521 | |
| 2023 | 557 | |
| 2024 | 493 | |
| 2025 | 614 |
For the 70 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Cheshire County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | KEENE | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $500,000 | SURRY | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $381,855 | Surry | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $350,000 | Winchester | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $300,000 | Walpole | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Major |
| 6 | $180,000 | Winchester | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $164,000 | KEENE | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | Marlborough | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $100,000 | Surry | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $73,000 | Keene | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 33005.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Keene | 22,907 | View › |
| Swanzey | 7,306 | View › |
| Rindge | 6,446 | View › |
| Jaffrey | 5,363 | View › |
| Winchester | 4,175 | View › |
| Hinsdale | 3,965 | View › |
| Walpole | 3,651 | View › |
| Chesterfield | 3,577 | View › |
| Fitzwilliam | 2,287 | View › |
| Marlborough | 2,253 | View › |
| Westmoreland | 2,042 | View › |
| Troy | 1,889 | View › |
25 departments report from this county.
Top 5 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.