In 2025, fire departments serving Williston responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $508K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
491 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 89 | — | |
| 2022 | 100 | +12.4% | |
| 2023 | 97 | -3.0% | |
| 2024 | 106 | +9.3% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -6.6% |
For the 13 building fires Williston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 19 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 24.3% |
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 Williston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 17 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Williston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $507,900 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $260,740 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,750 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Williston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,282 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 547 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 46.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Williston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Williston.
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.