In 2025, fire departments serving Calais responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Calais's departments reported 12 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 28 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Outside rubbish fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
138 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $892K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 36 | +28.6% | |
| 2023 | 28 | -22.2% | |
| 2024 | 34 | +21.4% | |
| 2025* | 12 | — |
* Well below Calais'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 1 building fires Calais departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Calais mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Calais departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Calais sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 24 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 801 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 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 5.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 | 33.1 mi |
Top 6 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 Calais. 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.