In 2025, fire departments serving Gambrills responded to 92 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
355 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $432K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 108 | +120.4% | |
| 2024 | 89 | -17.6% | |
| 2025 | 92 | +3.4% |
* Well below Gambrills'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 7 building fires Gambrills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 72 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 | 13 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 8.3% |
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 Gambrills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gambrills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gambrills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,728 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 80 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 67 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.5 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 | 21054 | 355 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Gambrills. 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.