In 2025, fire departments serving Reading responded to 167 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.2M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
890 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 160 | — | |
| 2022 | 183 | +14.4% | |
| 2023 | 196 | +7.1% | |
| 2024 | 184 | -6.1% | |
| 2025 | 167 | -9.2% |
For the 25 building fires Reading departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 195 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 | 27 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 20.0% |
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 Reading mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 69 | 35.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 22 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 13.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Reading departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,200,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $85,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Reading sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,655 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 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 7.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 46.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Reading. 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.