In 2025, fire departments serving La Plata responded to 406 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,769 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 232 | — | |
| 2022 | 357 | +53.9% | |
| 2023 | 423 | +18.5% | |
| 2024 | 351 | -17.0% | |
| 2025 | 406 | +15.7% |
For the 57 building fires La Plata departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 161 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 | Undetermined | 49 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 25.5% |
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 La Plata mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 60.2% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Plata departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $16,798 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Plata sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,418 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 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 483 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 13.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 410 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 370 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 370 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 360 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 24.5 mi |
Top 2 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 La Plata. 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.