In 2025, fire departments serving Lyndon responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
145 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $767K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 51 | +21.4% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 48 | — |
* Well below Lyndon'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 4 building fires Lyndon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 6 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.1% |
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 Lyndon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 10.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lyndon departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $74,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lyndon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 14 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 466 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 17.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Smoking | 13 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 11 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 20.5 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Lyndon. 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.