In 2025, fire departments serving Westbrook responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
30 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $225K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | -40.0% | |
| 2023 | 4 | -33.3% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Westbrook'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 2 building fires Westbrook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Undetermined | 7 | 70.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Westbrook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 90.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westbrook departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westbrook sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,443 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 | 226 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 123 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 108 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 81 | 32.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56183 | 30 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Westbrook. 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.