In 2025, fire departments serving Malden responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | +22.7% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -33.3% |
* Well below Malden'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 4 building fires Malden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 49 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 | 14 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Assembly area without fixed seats - 100+ persons | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.3% |
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 Malden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 40.8% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 8.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Malden sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,280 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 429 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 334 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 285 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 285 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 276 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 244 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 185 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 174 | 48.5 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Malden. 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.