In 2025, fire departments serving Nantucket responded to 255 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
900 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $11.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 164 | — | |
| 2022 | 125 | -23.8% | |
| 2023 | 164 | +31.2% | |
| 2024 | 192 | +17.1% | |
| 2025 | 255 | +32.8% |
For the 9 building fires Nantucket departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 158 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 15.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 20 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 20 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 28.5% |
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 Nantucket mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 40.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nantucket departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nantucket sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 231 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 35.6 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 | 02554 | 900 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Nantucket. 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.