In 2025, fire departments serving Falmouth responded to 129 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
623 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 131 | — | |
| 2022 | 137 | +4.6% | |
| 2023 | 106 | -22.6% | |
| 2024 | 120 | +13.2% | |
| 2025 | 129 | +7.5% |
For the 18 building fires Falmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 22 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 10 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 20.6% |
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 Falmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 52 | 41.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Falmouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Falmouth sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 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 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 5.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 14 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 | 42.7 mi |
Top 6 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 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.