In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Washington responded to 154 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K 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 64% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,010 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 208 | — | |
| 2022 | 225 | +8.2% | |
| 2023 | 197 | -12.4% | |
| 2024 | 226 | +14.7% | |
| 2025 | 154 | -31.9% |
For the 16 building fires Fort Washington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 250 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 | 65 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 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 Fort Washington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 161 | 64.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 16 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Candle | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Washington departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Washington sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,355 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 2.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 370 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 24.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 157 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 21.9 mi |
Top 7 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 Fort Washington. 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.