In 2025, fire departments serving Orleans responded to 160 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
715 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 166 | — | |
| 2022 | 132 | -20.5% | |
| 2023 | 114 | -13.6% | |
| 2024 | 143 | +25.4% | |
| 2025 | 160 | +11.9% |
For the 13 building fires Orleans departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Assembly or sales area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 35.3% |
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 Orleans mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Orleans departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Orleans 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 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 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 2.1 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Orleans. 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.