In 2025, fire departments serving Melrose responded to 253 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,920 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 416 | — | |
| 2022 | 402 | -3.4% | |
| 2023 | 438 | +9.0% | |
| 2024 | 411 | -6.2% | |
| 2025 | 253 | -38.4% |
For the 5 building fires Melrose departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 143 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 | 22 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 9 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 28.7% |
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 Melrose mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 51.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Melrose departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Melrose sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,655 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 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 40.3 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 Melrose. 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.