In 2025, fire departments serving Cumberland responded to 256 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
966 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 223 | — | |
| 2022 | 194 | -13.0% | |
| 2023 | 129 | -33.5% | |
| 2024 | 164 | +27.1% | |
| 2025 | 256 | +56.1% |
For the 25 building fires Cumberland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 366 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 | 89 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 52 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 33 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 15 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 71 | 19.4% |
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 Cumberland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 31.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 55 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 25 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 19 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 13.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cumberland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $104,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cumberland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
50 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 11 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 12 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,869 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 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 38.1 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 Rhode Island cities with population within ±25% of Cumberland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cumberland.
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.