In 2025, fire departments serving Fall River responded to 949 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 939 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,091 | +16.2% | |
| 2023 | 1,151 | +5.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,009 | -12.3% | |
| 2025 | 949 | -5.9% |
For the 146 building fires Fall River departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,334 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 | 362 | 27.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 155 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 140 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 85 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 63 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 46 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 40 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 38 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 38 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 318 | 23.8% |
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 Fall River mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 430 | 32.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 243 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 224 | 16.8% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 113 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 57 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 56 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 35 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 111 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fall River departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 67% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $565,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fall River sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
103 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 | 9 | |
| 20-29 | 11 | |
| 30-39 | 18 | |
| 40-49 | 22 | |
| 50-59 | 19 | |
| 60-69 | 10 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 6 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,094 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 30 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.3 mi |
Top 10 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 Fall River. 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.