In 2025, fire departments serving Westwood responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,072 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 288 | — | |
| 2022 | 243 | -15.6% | |
| 2023 | 215 | -11.5% | |
| 2024 | 183 | -14.9% | |
| 2025 | 143 | -21.9% |
For the 5 building fires Westwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 176 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 | 53 | 30.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 19.9% |
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 Westwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 20 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 15.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,800 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 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 186 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 120 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 28.6 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 Westwood. 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.