In 2025, fire departments serving Somerville responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $39K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
538 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 86 | — | |
| 2022 | 145 | +68.6% | |
| 2023 | 120 | -17.2% | |
| 2024 | 99 | -17.5% | |
| 2025 | 88 | -11.1% |
For the 20 building fires Somerville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 223 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 54 | 24.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 43 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 14 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 19.7% |
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 Somerville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 114 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 22 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 5.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Somerville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $39,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Somerville sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,949 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 44.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 636 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 529 | 21.8 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 Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Somerville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Somerville.
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.