In 2025, fire departments serving Wayland responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
74 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -41.7% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +7.1% |
* Well below Wayland'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 Wayland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | 4 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Wayland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wayland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,351 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 130 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 48 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 43 | 20.8 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Wayland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wayland.
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.