In 2025, fire departments serving Hubbardston responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
394 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | -8.7% | |
| 2023 | 89 | +41.3% | |
| 2024 | 74 | -16.9% | |
| 2025 | 99 | +33.8% |
For the 1 building fires Hubbardston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 12 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 15.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 14.5% |
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 Hubbardston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 49.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 25 | 36.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 1.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hubbardston departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hubbardston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,298 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 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 18.4 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 | 01452 | 394 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Hubbardston. 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.