In 2025, fire departments serving Adamstown responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
148 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $926K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | +45.0% | |
| 2024 | 47 | +62.1% | |
| 2025 | 36 | -23.4% |
* Well below Adamstown's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Adamstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Undetermined | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 10.0% |
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 Adamstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Adamstown departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $300 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Adamstown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,207 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 23.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 24.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 145 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 23.6 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Adamstown. 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.