In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
83 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | +57.9% | |
| 2024 | 10 | -66.7% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +70.0% |
* Well below Johnson'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 2 building fires Johnson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Undetermined | 10 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Johnson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 6.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Johnson sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 604 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 16.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 26 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 21 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Smoking | 18 | 48.1 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 Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Johnson. 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.