In 2025, fire departments serving Lanesborough responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
138 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $70K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | -15.6% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 32 | -11.1% |
* Well below Lanesborough'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 1 building fires Lanesborough departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | 8 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 11.8% |
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 Lanesborough mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lanesborough departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lanesborough sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,239 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 1.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 79 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 65 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 58 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55 | 37.6 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 | 01237 | 138 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Lanesborough. 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.