In 2025, fire departments serving Cambridge responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
172 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $118K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | +9.7% | |
| 2023 | 43 | +26.5% | |
| 2024 | 37 | -14.0% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -27.0% |
For the 4 building fires Cambridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Cambridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cambridge departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cambridge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,487 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 24.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 17.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 20.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 73 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 70 | 40.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Cambridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cambridge.
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.