In 2025, fire departments serving Rutland responded to 133 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 73% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
422 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 40 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | — | |
| 2023 | 76 | +33.3% | |
| 2024 | 116 | +52.6% | |
| 2025 | 133 | +14.7% |
* Well below Rutland's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 24 building fires Rutland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | Outside area, other | 16 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 15.5% |
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 Rutland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rutland departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rutland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,382 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 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 46.2 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 Rutland. 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.