In 2025, fire departments serving Walpole responded to 139 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Walpole's departments reported 139 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 232 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
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.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,160 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 244 | — | |
| 2022 | 263 | +7.8% | |
| 2023 | 274 | +4.2% | |
| 2024 | 240 | -12.4% | |
| 2025* | 139 | — |
* Well below Walpole'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 9 building fires Walpole departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 182 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 | 41 | 22.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 10 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 27.5% |
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 Walpole mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 40.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 31 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walpole departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Walpole sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,816 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 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 30.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Walpole. 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.