In 2025, fire departments serving Bel Air responded to 523 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 64% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,355 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 397 | — | |
| 2022 | 420 | +5.8% | |
| 2023 | 463 | +10.2% | |
| 2024 | 552 | +19.2% | |
| 2025 | 523 | -5.3% |
For the 88 building fires Bel Air departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 379 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 100 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 39 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 27 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 82 | 21.6% |
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 Bel Air mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 108 | 28.5% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 45 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 40 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 30 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bel Air departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $105,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bel Air sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,995 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 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 101 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 67 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 46.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Bel Air. 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.