In 2025, fire departments serving Waitsfield responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 86% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
70 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +12.5% | |
| 2023 | 20 | +11.1% | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Waitsfield'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 0 building fires Waitsfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Waitsfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 8.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waitsfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,371 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 52 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 45 | 40.5 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 | 05673 | 70 |
Six Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Waitsfield. 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.