In 2025, fire departments serving Marshfield responded to 281 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 68% of all calls.
Dec peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,477 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 375 | — | |
| 2022 | 259 | -30.9% | |
| 2023 | 276 | +6.6% | |
| 2024 | 286 | +3.6% | |
| 2025 | 281 | -1.7% |
For the 15 building fires Marshfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 206 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 | 37 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 14 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 68 | 33.0% |
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 Marshfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 26 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 9.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 12 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 13.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marshfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marshfield 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,280 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 32 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 27 | 28.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Marshfield. 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.