This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
New Hampshire saw 18 fire-related deaths last year, fewer than in the previous year but still a sobering toll for state officials, who believe many of those fatalities could have been avoided.
Only four of the 14 homes where fatalities occurred definitely had working smoke alarms, according to the state’s 2025 fire-related death statistics. Six of the homes had no smoke alarms, while the status of the alarms in the remaining four homes is unknown.
“It’s frustrating for us that we think some of these deaths could have been prevented if people had just kind of followed our advice in terms of following the code and the behavior,” said Anthony Booth, the state’s deputy state fire marshal. “But we’re not going to be able to reach everybody and have everybody do what we say.”
The most common way to reduce the number of people who die in fires is to ensure residences are equipped with working smoke alarms, Booth said.
Another way to reduce fire-related deaths is to change people’s behavior and ensure everyone has an escape plan in place in case a fire breaks out at their home or office building.
In two separate incidents, people died after going back inside a burning building after initially escaping, Booth said. One case involved a woman in Milton who reentered her home to rescue her pets. He was unsure of the details surrounding the other incident.
“They think they have time,” Booth said. “They think they can get in and out quickly, but they don’t come back out.”
Despite the toll, fire-related deaths in New Hampshire have dropped compared to 2024, when two dozen people died. The state recorded 10 deaths in 2022 and 12 in 2023.
New Hampshire is still faring proportionally better than most states nationally, Booth said.
Some trends are evident. State data shows that 82% of fatal fires occurred during sleeping hours, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. At the same time, two-thirds of those who died last year were older adults between the ages of 60 and 79.
Combined with the lack of working smoke alarms, these hours are the most dangerous because people are home and asleep with no way of knowing a fire has broken out.
“If they do wake up, it’s often too late,” he said. “They’ve already inhaled all the toxic gases and carbon monoxide.”
To install a free smoke alarm go to www.redcross.org.
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