In 2025, fire departments serving Newbury responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $326K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +64.3% |
* Well below Newbury'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 5 building fires Newbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Newbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newbury departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,423 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 27.2 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 Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Newbury. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newbury.
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.