In 2025, fire departments serving Lunenburg responded to 104 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
589 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | -5.1% | |
| 2023 | 132 | +18.9% | |
| 2024 | 125 | -5.3% | |
| 2025 | 104 | -16.8% |
For the 18 building fires Lunenburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 12.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 21.6% |
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 Lunenburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 9.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 9 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 8 | 7.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lunenburg 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 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lunenburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,243 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 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 7.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 7.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 39.9 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 | 01462 | 589 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Lunenburg. 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.