In 2025, fire departments serving North Beach responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 71% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | +18.2% | |
| 2024 | 19 | +46.2% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -10.5% |
* Well below North Beach'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 0 building fires North Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 12 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.5% |
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 North Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 90.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Beach sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,976 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 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 35.7 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 | 20714 | 66 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of North Beach. 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.