In 2025, fire departments serving Hardwick responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 57% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $200K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | +146.7% |
* Well below Hardwick'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 8 building fires Hardwick departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Hardwick mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 1 | 50.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hardwick departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hardwick sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 19 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 550 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 6.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 34.3 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Hardwick. 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.