In 2025, fire departments serving Winooski responded to 103 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
510 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $592K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 85 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | -7.1% | |
| 2023 | 124 | +57.0% | |
| 2024 | 119 | -4.0% | |
| 2025 | 103 | -13.4% |
For the 3 building fires Winooski departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 20.0% |
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 Winooski mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Match | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Winooski departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Winooski sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,260 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 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 121 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 106 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 92 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 82 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 80 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 77 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 75 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 65 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 40.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Winooski. 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.