In 2025, fire departments serving Frederick responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $55K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
262 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $578K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 83 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 62 | — | |
| 2024 | 67 | +8.1% | |
| 2025 | 45 | -32.8% |
* Well below Frederick'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 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 157 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 | 35 | 22.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 19.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 28 | 17.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 14 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 12.1% |
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 | 68 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 13 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Frederick departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $55,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Frederick sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 170,913 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,907 | 32.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,835 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11,785 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Firearms and explosives use | 10,471 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 10,206 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Other causes | 7,206 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,782 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,100 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,880 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 5,430 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4,500 | 23.4 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 | 73542 | 262 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Frederick. 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.