In 2025, fire departments serving Pittsfield responded to 416 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,311 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 620 | — | |
| 2022 | 726 | +17.1% | |
| 2023 | 803 | +10.6% | |
| 2024 | 746 | -7.1% | |
| 2025 | 416 | -44.2% |
For the 22 building fires Pittsfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 575 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 | 166 | 28.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 93 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 181 | 31.5% |
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 Pittsfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 182 | 31.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 92 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 86 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 42 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 28 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 28 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 59 | 10.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pittsfield departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pittsfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
33 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 11 | |
| 40-49 | 12 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,970 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 5.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 90 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 79 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 30.7 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 Pittsfield. 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.