In 2025, fire departments serving Vineyard Haven responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
373 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $9.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 94 | — | |
| 2024 | 131 | +39.4% | |
| 2025 | 148 | +13.0% |
* Well below Vineyard Haven'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 4 building fires Vineyard Haven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.1% |
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 Vineyard Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vineyard Haven departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vineyard Haven sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 18 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 391 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 | 20.8 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 | 02568 | 373 |
Six Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of Vineyard Haven. 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.