In 2025, fire departments serving Elkton responded to 558 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,670 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $20.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 430 | — | |
| 2022 | 479 | +11.4% | |
| 2023 | 598 | +24.8% | |
| 2024 | 605 | +1.2% | |
| 2025 | 558 | -7.8% |
For the 178 building fires Elkton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 477 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 | 101 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 58 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 30 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 20 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 125 | 26.2% |
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 Elkton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 267 | 56.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 37 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 35 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elkton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $64,950 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elkton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,909 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 23.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 32.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Elkton. 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.