In 2025, fire departments serving North Adams responded to 186 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $256K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,083 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 246 | — | |
| 2022 | 177 | -28.0% | |
| 2023 | 286 | +61.6% | |
| 2024 | 188 | -34.3% | |
| 2025 | 186 | -1.1% |
For the 8 building fires North Adams departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 94 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 | 15 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 27.7% |
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 North Adams mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Adams departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $256,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $11,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,200 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Adams sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,439 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 | 321 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 2.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 65 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 58 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55 | 34.3 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 North Adams. 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.