In 2025, fire departments serving Waltham responded to 61 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Waltham's departments reported 61 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 522 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,608 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 646 | — | |
| 2022 | 727 | +12.5% | |
| 2023 | 579 | -20.4% | |
| 2024 | 595 | +2.8% | |
| 2025* | 61 | — |
* Well below Waltham'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 2 building fires Waltham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 474 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 | Outside area, other | 150 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 35 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 28 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 21 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 107 | 22.6% |
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 Waltham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 235 | 49.6% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 53 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 47 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 24 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 18 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Match | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 10.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waltham departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waltham sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
28 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,695 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 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 38.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Waltham. 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.