In 2025, fire departments serving Hagerstown responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +8.3% |
* Well below Hagerstown'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 6 building fires Hagerstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Hagerstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hagerstown departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hagerstown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
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 | 47346 | 37 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Hagerstown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hagerstown.
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.