In 2025, fire departments serving Church Hill responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 46 | — | |
| 2024 | 38 | -17.4% | |
| 2025 | 39 | +2.6% |
* Well below Church Hill'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 19 building fires Church Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 | 10 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 23.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.3% |
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 Church Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 56.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Church Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,062 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 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 835 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 30.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Church Hill. 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.