In 2025, fire departments serving Dresden responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
143 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $15K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | — | |
| 2024 | 59 | +103.4% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -66.1% |
* Well below Dresden'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 0 building fires Dresden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 5 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Office | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Dresden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 70.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Incendiary device | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dresden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 943 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 27.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04342 | 143 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Dresden. 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.