In 2025, fire departments serving Brookfield responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
31 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $125K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | +50.0% | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +160.0% |
* Well below Brookfield's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Brookfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Brookfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brookfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,092 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 31.4 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 Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Brookfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brookfield.
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.