In 2025, fire departments serving Carlisle responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 66 | +106.2% | |
| 2024 | 56 | -15.2% | |
| 2025 | 48 | -14.3% |
* Well below Carlisle'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 Carlisle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 14.8% |
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 Carlisle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Match | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 14.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carlisle departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carlisle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,835 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 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 49.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01741 | 206 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Carlisle. 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.