In 2025, fire departments serving Holliston responded to 123 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
257 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 118 | — | |
| 2025 | 123 | +4.2% |
* Well below Holliston'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 9 building fires Holliston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 27.8% |
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 Holliston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Holliston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $22,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Hazardous condition, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Holliston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,899 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 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 23.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Holliston. 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.