In 2025, fire departments serving Westfield responded to 310 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $318K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,570 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 330 | — | |
| 2022 | 276 | -16.4% | |
| 2023 | 323 | +17.0% | |
| 2024 | 331 | +2.5% | |
| 2025 | 310 | -6.3% |
For the 17 building fires Westfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 371 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 | 70 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 31 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 113 | 30.5% |
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 Westfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 157 | 42.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 27 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 22 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $318,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $136,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $52,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,382 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 15.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 154 | 49.2 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 Westfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Westfield.
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.