In 2025, fire departments serving Bethesda responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $40K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 35 | +94.4% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -37.1% |
* Well below Bethesda'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 1 building fires Bethesda departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 20 | 76.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.8% |
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 Bethesda mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 80.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Match | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bethesda departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bethesda sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,572 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 31.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 71 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 32.5 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 | 43719 | 98 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Bethesda. 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.