In 2025, fire departments across New Hampshire responded to 15,811 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Covered Bridge wildfire that burned 329 acres in 2016.
New Hampshire ranks #48 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 52% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Apr peaks across the window; Feb dips.
77,705 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13,893 | |
| 2022 | 15,305 | |
| 2023 | 15,442 | |
| 2024 | 17,254 | |
| 2025 | 15,811 |
For the 2,095 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 | 4,169 | 1,044 / 3,125 | 2,695 | |
| 2 | Equipment & vehicle use | 1,435 | 119 / 1,316 | 136 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 1,268 | 126 / 1,142 | 473 | |
| 4 | Debris & open burning | 732 | 732 / 0 | 621 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 507 | 108 / 399 | 143 | |
| 6 | Recreation & ceremony | 366 | 366 / 0 | 353 | |
| 7 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 271 | 271 / 0 | 365 | |
| 8 | Smoking | 222 | 222 / 0 | 235 | |
| 9 | Other causes | 43 | 7 / 36 | 3 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 39 | 39 / 0 | 166 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 36 | 36 / 0 | 30 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 11 | 11 / 0 | 4 |
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 | 19,858 | $139K | 0 | |
| 2 | Outdoor fires | 14,930 | $1.5M | 0 | |
| 3 | Building fires | 14,718 | $174.7M | 39 | |
| 4 | Gas leaks | 13,460 | $40K | 0 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 6,551 | $1.2M | 0 | |
| 6 | Cooking-related | 3,560 | $266K | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 2,500 | $22.7M | 18 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 1,450 | $266K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,263 | $2.8M | 1 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 33% of New Hampshire's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | Moultonborough | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Henniker | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
| 3 | $1,952,600 | Lincoln | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,300,000 | Bedford | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,222,900 | Newmarket | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,000,000 | Bartlett | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | Campton | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Springfield | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $803,500 | Londonderry | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $796,148 | New Boston | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare New Hampshire apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hillsborough County | 1,744 | 433,166 |
| 2 | Rockingham County | 1,374 | 318,683 |
| 3 | Grafton County | 1,070 | 94,113 |
| 4 | Sullivan County | 752 | 43,356 |
| 5 | Merrimack County | 721 | 166,359 |
| 6 | Carroll County | 693 | 55,230 |
| 7 | Belknap County | 678 | 66,949 |
| 8 | Cheshire County | 614 | 78,368 |
| 9 | Strafford County | 497 | 131,086 |
| 10 | Coos County | 65 | 32,604 |
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 | Carroll County | 12.55 | 693 | 55,230 | |
| 2 | Grafton County | 11.37 | 1,070 | 94,113 | |
| 3 | Belknap County | 10.13 | 678 | 66,949 | |
| 4 | Cheshire County | 7.83 | 614 | 78,368 | |
| 5 | Merrimack County | 4.33 | 721 | 166,359 | |
| 6 | Rockingham County | 4.31 | 1,374 | 318,683 | |
| 7 | Hillsborough County | 4.03 | 1,744 | 433,166 | |
| 8 | Strafford County | 3.79 | 497 | 131,086 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
5 perimeters and 511 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 3 | 412 | |
| 2020s | 2 | 99 |
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 | 921 | |
| 2000s | 917 | |
| 2010s | 1,114 | |
| 2020s | 129 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 3,081 ignitions total.
898 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 11 | |
| 20-29 | 105 | |
| 30-39 | 260 | |
| 40-49 | 223 | |
| 50-59 | 114 | |
| 60-69 | 57 | |
| 70-79 | 31 | |
| 80+ | 13 |
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.