In 2025, fire departments serving Gaithersburg responded to 435 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,267 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $11.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 376 | — | |
| 2022 | 474 | +26.1% | |
| 2023 | 498 | +5.1% | |
| 2024 | 484 | -2.8% | |
| 2025 | 435 | -10.1% |
For the 22 building fires Gaithersburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 568 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 | 98 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 90 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 49 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 39 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 37 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 31 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 158 | 27.8% |
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 Gaithersburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 225 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 61 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 40 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 33 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 32 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 31 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 69 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gaithersburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gaithersburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,676 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 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 3.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.1 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 Gaithersburg. 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.