In 2025, fire departments serving College Park responded to 107 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. College Park's departments reported 107 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 193 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
963 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 194 | — | |
| 2022 | 228 | +17.5% | |
| 2023 | 222 | -2.6% | |
| 2024 | 212 | -4.5% | |
| 2025* | 107 | — |
* Well below College Park'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 College Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 161 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 | 35 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 28.6% |
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 College Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 56.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by College Park departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. College Park sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,277 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 | 640 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 41.9 mi |
Top 8 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 College Park. 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.