In 2025, fire departments serving South Yarmouth responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. South Yarmouth's departments reported 65 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 116 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
578 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 142 | — | |
| 2022 | 118 | -16.9% | |
| 2023 | 120 | +1.7% | |
| 2024 | 133 | +10.8% | |
| 2025* | 65 | — |
* Well below South Yarmouth'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 7 building fires South Yarmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 74 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 | 14 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 29.7% |
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 South Yarmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by South Yarmouth departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,300 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Yarmouth sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 12 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 321 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 | 7.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 14.1 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 South Yarmouth. 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.