In 2025, fire departments serving Chesapeake Beach responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
231 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | +13.3% | |
| 2023 | 43 | +26.5% | |
| 2024 | 52 | +20.9% | |
| 2025 | 72 | +38.5% |
For the 13 building fires Chesapeake Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 28 | 56.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Closet | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 10.0% |
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 Chesapeake Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 86.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chesapeake Beach departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chesapeake Beach sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,976 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 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 35.4 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 | 20732 | 231 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Chesapeake Beach. 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.