In 2025, fire departments serving Shelburne responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
236 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $437K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 87 | +70.6% | |
| 2023 | 36 | -58.6% | |
| 2024* | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 46 | — |
* Well below Shelburne'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 4 building fires Shelburne departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 56 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 | 13 | 23.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 21.4% |
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 mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 17.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shelburne departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $13,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shelburne sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,394 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 60 | 49.4 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 Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Shelburne. 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.