In 2025, fire departments serving Charlton responded to 177 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 45% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,011 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 216 | — | |
| 2022 | 211 | -2.3% | |
| 2023 | 212 | +0.5% | |
| 2024 | 195 | -8.0% | |
| 2025 | 177 | -9.2% |
For the 15 building fires Charlton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 245 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 61 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 62 | 25.3% |
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 Charlton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 47 | 19.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Charlton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Charlton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,585 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 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 29.6 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Charlton. 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.