In 2025, fire departments serving Deerfield responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $399K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | -16.3% | |
| 2024 | 76 | +111.1% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -64.5% |
* Well below Deerfield's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Deerfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | 23 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Structural area, other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 13.3% |
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 Deerfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 28.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 9 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 8.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Deerfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,032 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 21.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 51 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 47 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 47 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 46 | 20.4 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 Deerfield. 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.