In 2025, fire departments serving Germantown responded to 279 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 203 | — | |
| 2022 | 223 | +9.9% | |
| 2023 | 251 | +12.6% | |
| 2024 | 255 | +1.6% | |
| 2025 | 279 | +9.4% |
For the 28 building fires Germantown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 347 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 72 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 28 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 27 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 18 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 86 | 24.8% |
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 Germantown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 122 | 35.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 49 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 22 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Germantown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $261,274 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Germantown 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
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 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 3.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 31.7 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 Germantown. 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.