In 2025, fire departments serving West Brookfield responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K 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 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
281 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 55 | — | |
| 2023 | 74 | +34.5% | |
| 2024 | 76 | +2.7% | |
| 2025 | 56 | -26.3% |
* Well below West Brookfield'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 5 building fires West Brookfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 12 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 27.3% |
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 West Brookfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 7 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Match | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 15.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Brookfield departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Brookfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,991 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 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 29.7 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 Massachusetts cities with population within ±25% of West Brookfield. 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.