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2025 County Report

Fires in Suffolk County, MA

In 2025, fire departments serving Suffolk County responded to 5,890 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4.0M property loss.

785,443 residents FIPS 25025 20 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
5,890
34,482 across 5 years
Building fires
255
498 wildland
Property loss
$32.2M
$30.5M structure · $1.7M contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

5,890
Total Incidents
Cooking fire, confined to container 1,629 27.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 526 8.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 460 7.8%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 331 5.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 303 5.1%
All other categories 2,641 44.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Suffolk County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 515
Feb 504
Mar 417
Apr 478
May 312
Jun 495
Jul 674
Aug 558
Sep 573
Oct 533
Nov 521
Dec 310
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Suffolk County

34,482 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 6,970
2022 7,611
2023 7,244
2024 6,767
2025 5,890
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 255 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
553
Cause undetermined
20%
214
Intentional / arson
3%
32
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
113
Under investigation
7%
75
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
81
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $12.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Suffolk County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $4,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
3 $1,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
4 $1,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
5 $1,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
6 $1,000,000 Boston Building fires Major
7 $800,000 Boston Building fires Major
8 $800,000 Boston Building fires Major
9 $750,000 Boston Building fires Major
10 $650,000 Boston Building fires Major
06 How Suffolk County compares

Suffolk County vs MA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Suffolk County
7.5
MA avg
8.76
US avg
7.15
0.32
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Suffolk County
0.32
MA avg
0.58
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Suffolk County
0
MA avg
2.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Suffolk County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 25025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Suffolk County

5 departments report from this county.

BOSTON
Boston
FDID 25035 4,967 incidents
REVERE
—
FDID 25248 508 incidents
CHELSEA
—
FDID 25057 450 incidents
LOGAN AIRPORT FD
—
FDID 25935 372 incidents
WINTHROP
—
FDID 25346 125 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Mt Tom 2014 FWS 23
2 Highlands Wildfire 2013 NPS 6
3 20217SPB Plot 9 2021 NPS 2
4 0021720210525 SPB Plot 203 2021 NPS 2
5 20210707SPB15_14Rx 2021 NPS 2
6 SPB Plot #10 2021 NPS 1
7 00217420210527 SPB Plot 19 Rx 2021 NPS 1
8 PTownPearsols_CPB_2021 2021 NPS 1
9 Pilgrim Springs_CPB_20210204 2021 NPS 1
10 Highland Center_CPB_20210406 2021 NPS 1

About this data

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.