In 2025, fire departments serving Ocean View responded to 86 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 68% of all calls.
May peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
400 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | +7.6% | |
| 2023 | 81 | +14.1% | |
| 2024 | 96 | +18.5% | |
| 2025 | 86 | -10.4% |
For the 17 building fires Ocean View departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 72 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 | 24 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 12.5% |
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 Ocean View mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 4.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ocean View sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,494 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 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 48.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Ocean View. 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.