In 2025, fire departments serving Camden responded to 86 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 43% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
238 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $879K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | — | |
| 2023 | 47 | +23.7% | |
| 2024 | 47 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 86 | +83.0% |
* Well below Camden'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 8 building fires Camden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 22.4% |
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 Camden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Camden departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Camden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 660 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 12.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 17.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 32 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 23 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 17 | 23.5 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 Maine cities with population within ±25% of Camden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Camden.
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.