In 2025, fire departments serving Cumberland responded to 563 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $225K 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 55% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,348 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 326 | — | |
| 2022 | 454 | +39.3% | |
| 2023 | 468 | +3.1% | |
| 2024 | 537 | +14.7% | |
| 2025 | 563 | +4.8% |
For the 138 building fires Cumberland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 313 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 27 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 101 | 32.3% |
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 Cumberland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 145 | 46.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 22 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 15 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 15 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cumberland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cumberland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,435 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 888 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 755 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 610 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 480 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 467 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 345 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 315 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 230 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 145 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 140 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 32.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Cumberland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cumberland.
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.