In 2025, fire departments serving Chelsea responded to 443 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 66% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,335 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $12.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 412 | — | |
| 2022 | 449 | +9.0% | |
| 2023 | 478 | +6.5% | |
| 2024 | 553 | +15.7% | |
| 2025 | 443 | -19.9% |
For the 14 building fires Chelsea departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 376 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 | Outside area, other | 107 | 28.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 57 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 87 | 23.1% |
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 Chelsea mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 171 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 34 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 30 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 25 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 14 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 10.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chelsea departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chelsea sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
101 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 | 16 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 27 | |
| 40-49 | 21 | |
| 50-59 | 17 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,655 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 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 36.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Chelsea. 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.