In 2025, fire departments serving Ridgely responded to 61 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 74% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
254 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $317K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 67 | +91.4% | |
| 2023 | 54 | -19.4% | |
| 2024 | 37 | -31.5% | |
| 2025 | 61 | +64.9% |
For the 19 building fires Ridgely departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 9 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 14.8% |
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 Ridgely mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ridgely departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ridgely sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,639 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 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 49.2 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 | 21660 | 254 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Ridgely. 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.