In 2025, fire departments serving Cecilton responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
95 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $317K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | +83.3% | |
| 2024 | 24 | +9.1% | |
| 2025 | 29 | +20.8% |
* Well below Cecilton'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 9 building fires Cecilton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Cecilton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 53.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cecilton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cecilton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,451 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 12.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 21.5 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 Cecilton. 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.