In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
331 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | — | |
| 2022 | 74 | +8.8% | |
| 2023 | 69 | -6.8% | |
| 2024 | 71 | +2.9% | |
| 2025 | 49 | -31.0% |
For the 5 building fires Lexington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 188 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 | 41 | 21.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 21.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 20.7% |
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 Lexington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 70 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 16 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lexington departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lexington sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,685 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 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 42.1 mi |
Top 6 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 Lexington. 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.