In 2025, fire departments serving Blades responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
70 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $50K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -47.8% | |
| 2023 | 10 | -16.7% | |
| 2024 | 14 | +40.0% | |
| 2025 | 11 | -21.4% |
For the 5 building fires Blades departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Blades mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 25.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blades departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blades sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,804 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,348 | 49.8 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 Delaware cities with population within ±25% of Blades. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blades.
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.