In 2025, fire departments serving Shutesbury responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $65K 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 71% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
97 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $84K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 31 | +63.2% | |
| 2024 | 22 | -29.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -22.7% |
* Well below Shutesbury'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 5 building fires Shutesbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Shutesbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shutesbury departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shutesbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,395 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 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 14.6 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 | 01072 | 97 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Shutesbury. 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.