In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 80% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
49 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $86K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | +50.0% | |
| 2024 | 16 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -37.5% |
* Well below Franklin'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 Franklin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 2 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Franklin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Franklin departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,252 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 28.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 38 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 35 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 29 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 22.2 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 | 05457 | 49 |
Six Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Franklin. 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.