In 2025, fire departments serving Billerica responded to 255 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,556 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 357 | — | |
| 2022 | 253 | -29.1% | |
| 2023 | 309 | +22.1% | |
| 2024 | 382 | +23.6% | |
| 2025 | 255 | -33.2% |
For the 12 building fires Billerica departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 294 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 | Undetermined | 76 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 46 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 20 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 17 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 18.4% |
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 Billerica mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 179 | 60.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 18 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 5 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Billerica departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Hazardous condition, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Billerica sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,763 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 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 48.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Billerica. 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.