In 2025, fire departments serving Denton responded to 186 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
673 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 118 | +31.1% | |
| 2023 | 143 | +21.2% | |
| 2024 | 136 | -4.9% | |
| 2025 | 186 | +36.8% |
For the 70 building fires Denton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 97 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 | 20 | 20.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 24.7% |
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 Denton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 63.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Denton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Denton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,800 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 49.6 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 Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Denton. 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.