In 2025, fire departments serving Sterling responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
374 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 73 | — | |
| 2022 | 75 | +2.7% | |
| 2023 | 89 | +18.7% | |
| 2024 | 62 | -30.3% | |
| 2025 | 75 | +21.0% |
For the 3 building fires Sterling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 87 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 | 23 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 8 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 6 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 18.4% |
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 Sterling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 32.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Sunlight | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sterling departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sterling sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,231 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 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 7.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 7.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 42.4 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 | 01564 | 374 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Sterling. 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.