In 2025, fire departments serving Nahant responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $160K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | -31.2% | |
| 2023 | 41 | +86.4% | |
| 2024 | 26 | -36.6% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -30.8% |
For the 0 building fires Nahant departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Nahant mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 8.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nahant sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,654 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 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 5.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 37.9 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 | 01908 | 139 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Nahant. 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.