In 2025, fire departments serving Essex County responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips.
208 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | |
| 2022 | 50 | |
| 2023 | 46 | |
| 2024 | 34 | |
| 2025 | 60 |
For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Essex County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Canaan | Fire, other | Major |
| 2 | $500,000 | Beecher Falls | Fire, other | Major |
| 3 | $500,000 | Beecher Falls | Fire, other | Major |
| 4 | $500,000 | Lunenburg | Fire, other | Major |
| 5 | $30,000 | Beecher Falls | Fire, other | Significant |
| 6 | $500 | Beecher Falls | Fire, other | Significant |
| 7 | $500 | Beecher Falls | Fire, other | Significant |
| 8 | $500 | Concord | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 50009.
Top 1 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Side | 2021 | USFS | 0 |
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.