In 2025, fire departments serving Edgewater responded to 125 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
544 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.0B cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 46 | — | |
| 2022 | 92 | — | |
| 2023 | 116 | +26.1% | |
| 2024 | 165 | +42.2% | |
| 2025 | 125 | -24.2% |
* Well below Edgewater'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 8 building fires Edgewater departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 70 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 | 15 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 7 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 20.0% |
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 Edgewater mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Edgewater departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $34,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,600 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Edgewater sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,818 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 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,040 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 920 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 850 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 709 | 49.0 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 | 21037 | 544 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Edgewater. 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.