In 2025, fire departments serving Oxford responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
45 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | +60.0% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -37.5% |
* Well below Oxford'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 3 building fires Oxford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Oxford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oxford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oxford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,807 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 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 25.5 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 Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Oxford. 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.