In 2025, fire departments serving Lawrence responded to 423 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K building blaze. 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 56% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,958 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $19.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 800 | — | |
| 2022 | 618 | -22.8% | |
| 2023 | 646 | +4.5% | |
| 2024 | 471 | -27.1% | |
| 2025 | 423 | -10.2% |
For the 38 building fires Lawrence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 489 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 | 137 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 78 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 119 | 24.3% |
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 Lawrence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 294 | 60.1% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 32 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 30 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 19 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 6.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lawrence departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lawrence sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,681 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 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 29.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Lawrence. 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.