ZIP 01609 recorded 207 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,366 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Worcester County, MA. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,366 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 269 | |
| 2022 | 303 | |
| 2023 | 306 | |
| 2024 | 281 | |
| 2025 | 207 |
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 01609 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 622 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 165 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Hazardous condition, other | 142 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Building fires | 77 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | 54 | 4.0% |
For the 9 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 01609 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 20 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 71 | 48.0% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 16 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 21 | 14.2% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 01609 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 1555% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $615,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 2 | $365,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 4 | $280,916 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 6 | $184,500 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 7 | $175,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 8 | $164,906 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 01609.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worcester | 1,365 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,366 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.