In 2025, fire departments across Connecticut responded to 31,455 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Falkner Island-Southern Management Unit wildfire that burned 1 acres in 2019.
Connecticut ranks #60 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 49% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Sep dips.
151,004 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28,817 | |
| 2022 | 31,499 | |
| 2023 | 26,919 | |
| 2024 | 32,314 | |
| 2025 | 31,455 |
For the 2,126 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 13,922 | 4,139 / 9,783 | 5,674 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 2,813 | 585 / 2,228 | 2,446 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 2,089 | 82 / 2,007 | 161 | |
| 4 | Debris & open burning | 734 | 734 / 0 | 942 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 590 | 22 / 568 | 468 | |
| 6 | Recreation & ceremony | 547 | 547 / 0 | 1,761 | |
| 7 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 288 | 288 / 0 | 1,207 | |
| 8 | Smoking | 211 | 211 / 0 | 146 | |
| 9 | Other causes | 114 | 7 / 107 | 11 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 53 | 53 / 0 | 177 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 35 | 35 / 0 | 25 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 11 | 11 / 0 | 17 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electrical / wiring | 40,420 | $367K | 0 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 32,802 | $84K | 0 | |
| 3 | Building fires | 23,287 | $276.8M | 59 | |
| 4 | Outdoor fires | 23,242 | $1.5M | 1 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 10,458 | $1.2M | 1 | |
| 6 | Cooking-related | 8,918 | $605K | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 6,348 | $150.6M | 32 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 5,123 | $539K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,867 | $1.4M | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 24% of Connecticut's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000,000 | RIDGEFIELD | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | STAMFORD | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | Cheshire | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | OLD SAYBROOK | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,000,000 | GROTON | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,000,000 | OLD SAYBROOK | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,768,200 | Old Saybrook | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,500,000 | STAMFORD | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,487,150 | GREENWICH | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,000,000 | TORRINGTON | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Connecticut apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 9 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Connecticut Planning Region | 3,597 | 428,518 |
| 2 | South Central Connecticut Planning Region | 2,887 | 344,042 |
| 3 | Capitol Planning Region | 1,998 | 310,525 |
| 4 | Greater Bridgeport Planning Region | 1,734 | 203,659 |
| 5 | Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 1,424 | 123,849 |
| 6 | Naugatuck Valley Planning Region | 1,290 | 307,941 |
| 7 | Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 617 | 19,399 |
| 8 | Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region | 390 | 69,031 |
| 9 | Northwest Hills Planning Region | 224 | 52,396 |
Top 8 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 11.50 | 1,424 | 123,849 | |
| 2 | Greater Bridgeport Planning Region | 8.51 | 1,734 | 203,659 | |
| 3 | South Central Connecticut Planning Region | 8.39 | 2,887 | 344,042 | |
| 4 | Western Connecticut Planning Region | 8.39 | 3,597 | 428,518 | |
| 5 | Capitol Planning Region | 6.43 | 1,998 | 310,525 | |
| 6 | Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region | 5.65 | 390 | 69,031 | |
| 7 | Northwest Hills Planning Region | 4.28 | 224 | 52,396 | |
| 8 | Naugatuck Valley Planning Region | 4.19 | 1,290 | 307,941 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falkner Island-Southern Management Unit | 2019 | FWS | 1 |
1 perimeters and 1 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 1 | 1 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1,142 | |
| 2000s | 2,241 | |
| 2010s | 2,728 | |
| 2020s | 603 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 6,714 ignitions total.
1,965 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 46 | |
| 10-19 | 39 | |
| 20-29 | 313 | |
| 30-39 | 490 | |
| 40-49 | 367 | |
| 50-59 | 320 | |
| 60-69 | 109 | |
| 70-79 | 37 | |
| 80+ | 15 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.