In 2025, fire departments serving Concord responded to 195 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $523K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 237 | — | |
| 2022 | 213 | -10.1% | |
| 2023 | 246 | +15.5% | |
| 2024 | 223 | -9.3% | |
| 2025 | 195 | -12.6% |
For the 11 building fires Concord departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 149 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 | 22 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 16 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 23.5% |
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 Concord mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 43.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 10 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Concord departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $522,752 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Concord sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,806 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 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 15.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Concord. 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.