In 2025, fire departments serving Burlington responded to 374 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $310K 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 57% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,791 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 238 | — | |
| 2022 | 353 | +48.3% | |
| 2023 | 438 | +24.1% | |
| 2024 | 388 | -11.4% | |
| 2025 | 374 | -3.6% |
For the 13 building fires Burlington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 221 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 | 49 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 31.7% |
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 Burlington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 109 | 49.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burlington departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $310,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burlington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,260 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 31.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 39.0 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Burlington.
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.