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In 2025, fire departments serving Frederick responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
445 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $357K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 87 | — | |
| 2022 | 101 | +16.1% | |
| 2023 | 95 | -5.9% | |
| 2024 | 92 | -3.2% | |
| 2025 | 70 | -23.9% |
For the 5 building fires Frederick departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 60 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 23.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 15.0% |
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 Frederick mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Frederick departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Frederick sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 189,265 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 42.5 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Frederick. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Frederick.
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.