In 2025, fire departments serving East Falmouth responded to 106 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $317K 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 62% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
632 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | — | |
| 2022 | 151 | +0.7% | |
| 2023 | 102 | -32.5% | |
| 2024 | 123 | +20.6% | |
| 2025 | 106 | -13.8% |
For the 9 building fires East Falmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 146 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 14 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 8 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 20.5% |
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 East Falmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 24.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 29 | 19.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 15 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 9.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Falmouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $317,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $18,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Falmouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 436 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 2.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 14 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 | 45.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 02536 | 632 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of East Falmouth. 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.