In 2025, fire departments serving Arnold responded to 106 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $900K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
456 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 38 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | — | |
| 2023 | 106 | +49.3% | |
| 2024 | 135 | +27.4% | |
| 2025 | 106 | -21.5% |
* Well below Arnold'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 14 building fires Arnold departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 66 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 19.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 18.2% |
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 Arnold mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arnold departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $900,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Water vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arnold sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,684 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 6.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 370 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 370 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 360 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 306 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 269 | 48.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21012 | 456 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Arnold. 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.