In 2025, fire departments serving Chicopee responded to 355 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 58% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,989 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.1M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 390 | — | |
| 2022 | 373 | -4.4% | |
| 2023 | 408 | +9.4% | |
| 2024 | 463 | +13.5% | |
| 2025 | 355 | -23.3% |
For the 16 building fires Chicopee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 633 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 | 144 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 122 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 70 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 60 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 146 | 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 Chicopee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 275 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 59 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 55 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 39 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 37 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 36 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 32 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 27 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chicopee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $218,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chicopee sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
41 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 7 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 11 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,795 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 8.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 137 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 43.1 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Chicopee. 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.