In 2025, fire departments serving Groton responded to 109 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.2M 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 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
656 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 109 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | +28.4% | |
| 2023 | 129 | -7.9% | |
| 2024 | 169 | +31.0% | |
| 2025 | 109 | -35.5% |
For the 11 building fires Groton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 120 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 25.8% |
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 Groton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 23.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Groton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,200,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $9,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Groton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,034 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 9.1 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 | 01450 | 656 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Groton. 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.