In 2025, fire departments serving Castine responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | +28.6% | |
| 2024 | 10 | -44.4% | |
| 2025 | 19 | +90.0% |
* Well below Castine'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 0 building fires Castine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Castine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Castine sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,228 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 205 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 100 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 34 | 44.7 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 Castine. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Castine.
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.