In 2025, fire departments serving Acton responded to 177 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,002 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 263 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | -28.1% | |
| 2023 | 166 | -12.2% | |
| 2024 | 207 | +24.7% | |
| 2025 | 177 | -14.5% |
For the 6 building fires Acton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 135 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 20 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 31.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Acton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 41.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Acton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $27,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Acton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,811 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 11.2 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Acton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.