In 2025, fire departments serving New Market responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
323 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 74 | — | |
| 2022 | 68 | -8.1% | |
| 2023 | 65 | -4.4% | |
| 2024 | 59 | -9.2% | |
| 2025 | 57 | -3.4% |
For the 2 building fires New Market departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | 11 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 30.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.0% |
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 New Market mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 51.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Market departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Market 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,652 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 145 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 39.8 mi |
Top 8 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 New Market. 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.