In 2025, fire departments serving Teaticket responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $509K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | -9.1% | |
| 2023 | 32 | -36.0% | |
| 2024 | 35 | +9.4% | |
| 2025 | 34 | -2.9% |
For the 1 building fires Teaticket departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | Undetermined | 17 | 30.9% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 23.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 12.7% |
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 Teaticket mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 41.8% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 10 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Teaticket departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $800 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Teaticket sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 436 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 14 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 | 44.3 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 Teaticket. 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.