In 2025, fire departments serving Dundalk responded to 422 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,223 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 145 | — | |
| 2022* | 140 | — | |
| 2023* | 120 | — | |
| 2024 | 396 | — | |
| 2025 | 422 | +6.6% |
* Well below Dundalk'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 12 building fires Dundalk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 113 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 | Outside area, other | 29 | 25.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 18 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 19.5% |
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 Dundalk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 57.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dundalk departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dundalk sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,297 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 67 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 55 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 27.6 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 Dundalk. 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.