In 2025, fire departments serving Kingston responded to 215 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
937 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 186 | — | |
| 2022 | 115 | -38.2% | |
| 2023 | 224 | +94.8% | |
| 2024 | 197 | -12.1% | |
| 2025 | 215 | +9.1% |
For the 14 building fires Kingston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 118 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 | Outside area, other | 17 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 19.5% |
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 Kingston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 25 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 23 | 19.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 16.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kingston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kingston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,280 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 32 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 27 | 36.3 mi |
Top 9 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 Kingston. 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.