In 2025, fire departments serving Wells responded to 28 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 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
53 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | — |
* Well below Wells'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 Wells departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1 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 | Other | 1 | 100.0% |
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 Wells mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wells sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,502 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 190 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 173 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 137 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 95 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 39.7 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Vermont cities with population within ±25% of Wells. 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.