In 2025, fire departments serving Norwell responded to 188 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,019 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 312 | — | |
| 2022 | 174 | -44.2% | |
| 2023 | 216 | +24.1% | |
| 2024 | 129 | -40.3% | |
| 2025 | 188 | +45.7% |
For the 6 building fires Norwell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 143 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 | Outside area, other | 24 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 15 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 22.4% |
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 Norwell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 66 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Match | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norwell departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norwell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,758 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 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 47.9 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 Norwell. 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.