In 2025, fire departments serving Pembroke responded to 174 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,187 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 313 | — | |
| 2022 | 208 | -33.5% | |
| 2023 | 258 | +24.0% | |
| 2024 | 234 | -9.3% | |
| 2025 | 174 | -25.6% |
For the 13 building fires Pembroke departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 154 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 | Other | 31 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 29 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 22 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 17.5% |
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 Pembroke mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 42.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 5.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pembroke departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pembroke sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,280 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 32 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 27 | 30.4 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 Pembroke. 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.