In 2025, fire departments serving Callaway responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
99 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 31 | +55.0% | |
| 2024 | 23 | -25.8% | |
| 2025 | 19 | -17.4% |
* Well below Callaway'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 3 building fires Callaway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 8 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Callaway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 71.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Callaway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,206 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 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 31.5 mi |
Top 3 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 Callaway. 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.