In 2025, fire departments serving Shelburne Falls responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 81% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
101 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $323K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | -48.1% | |
| 2023 | 22 | +57.1% | |
| 2024* | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | — |
* Well below Shelburne Falls'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 10 building fires Shelburne Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 16.7% |
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 Shelburne Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shelburne Falls 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. Shelburne Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,102 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 55 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 51 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 50 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 50 | 50.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01370 | 101 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Shelburne Falls. 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.