In 2025, fire departments serving Casco responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
325 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $500.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 67 | — | |
| 2023 | 105 | +56.7% | |
| 2024 | 79 | -24.8% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -50.6% |
* Well below Casco'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 Casco departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | Outside area, other | 20 | 24.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 21.0% |
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 Casco mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 38.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 10 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Casco departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Casco sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,060 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 40.8 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 | 04015 | 325 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Casco. 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.