In 2025, fire departments serving Fulton responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 65% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
93 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | +10.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +4.5% |
* Well below Fulton'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 0 building fires Fulton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Fulton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fulton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,218 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 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 30.0 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 | 20759 | 93 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Fulton. 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.