In 2025, fire departments serving Deer Isle responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Deer Isle's departments reported 25 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 53 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
265 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $143K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | +51.4% | |
| 2023 | 44 | -17.0% | |
| 2024 | 108 | +145.5% | |
| 2025* | 25 | — |
* Well below Deer Isle'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 1 building fires Deer Isle 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 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 Deer Isle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 53.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Deer Isle departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Deer Isle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,065 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 | 205 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 100 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 18.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 24.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 32 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 | 46.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Deer Isle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Deer Isle.
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.