In 2025, fire departments serving Plymouth responded to 695 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.1M 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 60% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,296 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 736 | — | |
| 2022 | 576 | -21.7% | |
| 2023 | 648 | +12.5% | |
| 2024 | 641 | -1.1% | |
| 2025 | 695 | +8.4% |
For the 46 building fires Plymouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 748 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 145 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 83 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 75 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 74 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 68 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 46 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 176 | 23.5% |
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 Plymouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 295 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 92 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 76 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 75 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 17 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 13 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 79 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plymouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,050,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $396,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plymouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
39 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,014 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 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 50 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 32 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 27 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 26 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 | 45.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Plymouth. 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.