In 2025, fire departments serving Wareham responded to 362 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $550K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,331 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $5.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 670 | — | |
| 2022 | 474 | -29.3% | |
| 2023 | 507 | +7.0% | |
| 2024 | 318 | -37.3% | |
| 2025 | 362 | +13.8% |
For the 15 building fires Wareham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 312 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 | 51 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 27 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 26 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 95 | 30.4% |
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 Wareham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 72 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 47 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 34 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 32 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 31 | 9.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 9.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wareham departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $550,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wareham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
29 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 841 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 26 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 21 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 16 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 16 | 49.8 mi |
Top 8 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 Wareham. 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.