In 2025, fire departments serving Wellfleet responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Wellfleet's departments reported 12 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 66 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
332 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $609K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 99 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | -28.3% | |
| 2023 | 69 | -2.8% | |
| 2024 | 81 | +17.4% | |
| 2025* | 12 | — |
* Well below Wellfleet'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 3 building fires Wellfleet departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Office | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 15.8% |
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 Wellfleet mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 5.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wellfleet sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 301 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 13 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 13 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 11 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 9.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Wellfleet. 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.