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2025 County Report

Fires in Hillsborough County, NH

In 2025, fire departments serving Hillsborough County responded to 1,744 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $580K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

433,166 residents FIPS 33011 90 cities · 29 fire depts
Total incidents
1,744
8,415 across 5 years
Building fires
153
201 wildland
Property loss
$7.9M
$5.6M structure · $2.3M contents
Casualties
2 / 406
2 civ deaths · 20 civ inj · 386 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

1,744
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 236 13.5%
Power line down 169 9.7%
Building fires 153 8.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 137 7.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 128 7.3%
All other categories 921 52.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hillsborough County?

Jan peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 193
Feb 119
Mar 184
Apr 185
May 156
Jun 143
Jul 158
Aug 185
Sep 151
Oct 93
Nov 80
Dec 97
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hillsborough County

8,415 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,345
2022 1,498
2023 1,856
2024 1,972
2025 1,744
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 153 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
233
Cause undetermined
24%
110
Intentional / arson
7%
30
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
39
Under investigation
6%
25
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
13
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hillsborough County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $580,000 Manchester Building fires Major
2 $468,500 NASHUA Building fires Major
3 $440,056 Mason Building fires Major
4 $372,000 Manchester Building fires Major
5 $275,200 Manchester Building fires Major
6 $255,600 Manchester Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Manchester Building fires Major
8 $213,700 Manchester Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 NASHUA Building fires Significant
10 $182,900 Pinardville Building fires Significant
06 How Hillsborough County compares

Hillsborough County vs NH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hillsborough County
4.03
NH avg
11.14
US avg
7.15
0.35
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hillsborough County
0.35
NH avg
1.48
US avg
0.82
4.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hillsborough County
4.6
NH avg
7.7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hillsborough County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 33011.

CityPopulation 
Manchester 115,037 View ›
Nashua 90,943 View ›
Merrimack 27,187 View ›
Hudson 25,385 View ›
Bedford 23,385 View ›
Goffstown 18,499 View ›
Milford 16,151 View ›
Pelham 14,221 View ›
Amherst 11,766 View ›
Weare 9,108 View ›
Litchfield 8,484 View ›
Hollis 8,429 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hillsborough County

29 departments report from this county.

Manchester Fire Department
—
FDID 51714 830 incidents
Nashua Fire Rescue
Nashua
FDID 52280 547 incidents 167 paid
Merrimack Fire Department
Merrimack
FDID 51980 262 incidents 41 paid
Hudson Fire Department
Hudson
FDID 51480 253 incidents 34 paid
Milford Fire Department
Milford
FDID 52080 209 incidents
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.