In 2025, fire departments serving Swampscott responded to 112 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 60% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
458 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $836K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 137 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 99 | — | |
| 2024 | 101 | +2.0% | |
| 2025 | 112 | +10.9% |
* Well below Swampscott'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 Swampscott departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 72 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 | Other | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 25.0% |
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 Swampscott mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 59.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Swampscott departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $600 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Swampscott sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,654 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 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 2.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 41.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Swampscott. 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.