In 2025, fire departments serving Central Falls responded to 344 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 88% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,650 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 486 | — | |
| 2022 | 303 | -37.7% | |
| 2023 | 214 | -29.4% | |
| 2024 | 303 | +41.6% | |
| 2025 | 344 | +13.5% |
For the 27 building fires Central Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 964 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 | 777 | 80.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 57 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 15 | 1.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 12 | 1.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 1.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 0.9% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 6 | 0.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 0.6% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 0.6% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 6.2% |
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 Central Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 674 | 69.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 126 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 58 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 22 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 12 | 1.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 11 | 1.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 0.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 0.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 0.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 2.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Central Falls departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Central Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,713 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 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 42.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Central Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Central Falls.
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.