In 2025, fire departments serving Denmark responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Nov peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
105 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $433K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 44 | +175.0% | |
| 2025 | 30 | -31.8% |
* Well below Denmark'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 Denmark departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Denmark mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Denmark departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Denmark sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,021 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 26.8 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 Maine cities with population within ±25% of Denmark. 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.