In 2025, fire departments serving Brookline responded to 702 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,085 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $15.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 863 | — | |
| 2022 | 862 | -0.1% | |
| 2023 | 816 | -5.3% | |
| 2024 | 842 | +3.2% | |
| 2025 | 702 | -16.6% |
For the 19 building fires Brookline departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 211 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 | 38 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 35 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 72 | 34.1% |
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 Brookline mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 22.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 19.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 21 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 12 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 9 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brookline departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,500,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brookline sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,695 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 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 32.6 mi |
Top 8 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 Brookline. 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.