In 2025, fire departments serving Pownal responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
201 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $669K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 47 | — | |
| 2023 | 54 | +14.9% | |
| 2024 | 47 | -13.0% | |
| 2025 | 38 | -19.1% |
* Well below Pownal'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 4 building fires Pownal departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Office | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 17.4% |
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 Pownal mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pownal departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pownal sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,313 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 20.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 33.6 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Pownal. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pownal.
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.