In 2025, fire departments serving Middlesex responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
46 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | +11.1% | |
| 2024 | 12 | +20.0% | |
| 2025 | 12 | +0.0% |
* Well below Middlesex'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 0 building fires Middlesex departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Chimney (conversion only) | 2 | 100.0% |
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 Middlesex mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Middlesex sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,108 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 694 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 145 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 8.3 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 | 14507 | 46 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Middlesex. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Middlesex.
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.