In 2025, fire departments serving Mashpee responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $650K 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 61% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 252 | — | |
| 2022 | 224 | -11.1% | |
| 2023 | 205 | -8.5% | |
| 2024 | 201 | -2.0% | |
| 2025 | 225 | +11.9% |
For the 14 building fires Mashpee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 27.0% |
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 Mashpee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 21.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mashpee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $650,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mashpee sits above 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 436 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 4.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 14 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 | 45.5 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Mashpee. 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.