In 2025, fire departments serving Lubec responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $43K 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 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $638K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | +9.1% | |
| 2025 | 12 | +0.0% |
* Well below Lubec'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 3 building fires Lubec departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 7 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Lubec mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lubec departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $42,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lubec sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,135 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 770 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 657 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 515 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 495 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 215 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 206 | 3.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 195 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 177 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 161 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 156 | 36.6 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 | 04652 | 35 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Lubec. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lubec.
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.