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2025 County Report

Fires in Merrimack County, NH

In 2025, fire departments serving Merrimack County responded to 721 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

166,359 residents FIPS 33013 91 cities · 27 fire depts
Total incidents
721
3,812 across 5 years
Building fires
139
66 wildland
Property loss
$5.2M
$3.1M structure · $2.1M contents
Casualties
2 / 3
2 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

721
Total Incidents
Building fires 139 19.3%
Power line down 118 16.4%
Unauthorized burning 56 7.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 46 6.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 40 5.5%
All other categories 322 44.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Merrimack County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 61
Feb 80
Mar 96
Apr 67
May 53
Jun 55
Jul 66
Aug 59
Sep 72
Oct 25
Nov 25
Dec 62
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Merrimack County

3,812 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 739
2022 695
2023 738
2024 919
2025 721
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 139 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
58
Cause undetermined
20%
25
Intentional / arson
7%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
20
Under investigation
8%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Merrimack County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 CONCORD Building fires Major
2 $400,000 PENACOOK Building fires Major
3 $340,170 Sutton Building fires Major
4 $300,000 CONCORD Fire, other Major
5 $300,000 Webster Building fires Major
6 $200,000 Bradford Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 CONCORD Building fires Significant
8 $170,000 Boscawen Building fires Significant
9 $150,000 Webster Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 Webster Building fires Significant
06 How Merrimack County compares

Merrimack County vs NH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Merrimack County
4.33
NH avg
11.14
US avg
7.15
0.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Merrimack County
0.84
NH avg
1.48
US avg
0.82
12
Civilian fire deaths per million
Merrimack County
12
NH avg
7.7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Merrimack County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 33013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Merrimack County

27 departments report from this county.

Dover Fire Rescue
Dover
FDID 80230 347 incidents 30 paid
Concord Fire Department
Concord
FDID 60810 324 incidents 115 paid
Loudon Fire Department
Loudon
FDID 61810 258 incidents 4 paid
Franklin Fire Department
Franklin
FDID 61311 172 incidents
Epsom Fire Department
Epsom
FDID 61210 103 incidents 4 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.