In 2025, fire departments serving Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region responded to 390 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips.
2,418 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 504 | |
| 2022 | 561 | |
| 2023 | 512 | |
| 2024 | 451 | |
| 2025 | 390 |
For the 34 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $95,755 | HADDAM | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $75,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $30,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $15,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 6 | $10,000 | Higganum | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $10,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 8 | $8,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 9 | $8,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $6,000 | MIDDLETOWN | Fire, other | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 09130.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Middletown | 48,152 | View › |
| Lake Pocotopaug | 4,761 | View › |
| Essex Village | 2,725 | View › |
| Deep River Center | 2,700 | View › |
| Westbrook Center | 2,317 | View › |
| Old Saybrook Center | 2,017 | View › |
| Chester Center | 1,729 | View › |
| Higganum | 1,693 | View › |
| Moodus | 1,666 | View › |
| Saybrook Manor | 1,231 | View › |
| Fenwick | 40 | View › |
| Lyme Station | 0 | View › |
Top 1 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falkner Island-Southern Management Unit | 2019 | FWS | 1 |
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.