In 2025, fire departments serving Milton responded to 108 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
400 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 36 | — | |
| 2022 | 67 | — | |
| 2023 | 66 | -1.5% | |
| 2024 | 123 | +86.4% | |
| 2025 | 108 | -12.2% |
* Well below Milton'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 27 building fires Milton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | 21 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 13.0% |
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 Milton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 63.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,715 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 39.0 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 Delaware cities with population within ±25% of Milton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Milton.
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.