In 2025, fire departments serving Townsend responded to 100 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 61% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
472 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 54 | — | |
| 2022 | 77 | — | |
| 2023 | 155 | +101.3% | |
| 2024 | 86 | -44.5% | |
| 2025 | 100 | +16.3% |
* Well below Townsend'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 30 building fires Townsend departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 20 | 24.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 18.1% |
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 Townsend mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 51.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Townsend departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Townsend sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,271 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 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 40.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Townsend. 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.