In 2025, fire departments serving Bernardston responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
165 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | +71.4% | |
| 2023 | 24 | -50.0% | |
| 2024 | 32 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 33 | +3.1% |
For the 1 building fires Bernardston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 21.9% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 12.5% |
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 Bernardston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 40.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bernardston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,651 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 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 37.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Bernardston. 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.