In 2025, fire departments serving Great Barrington responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
408 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $335K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 71 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | +21.1% | |
| 2023 | 88 | +2.3% | |
| 2024 | 87 | -1.1% | |
| 2025 | 76 | -12.6% |
For the 5 building fires Great Barrington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 102 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 | 15 | 14.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 27.5% |
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 Great Barrington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 21.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Great Barrington departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Great Barrington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,341 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 154 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 146 | 46.2 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 | 01230 | 408 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Great Barrington. 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.