In 2025, fire departments serving Rising Sun responded to 141 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
522 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | -6.7% | |
| 2023 | 91 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | 116 | +27.5% | |
| 2025 | 141 | +21.6% |
For the 41 building fires Rising Sun departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 19 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 19.3% |
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 Rising Sun mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 56.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rising Sun departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rising Sun sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,058 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 101 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 95 | 45.8 mi |
Top 9 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 Rising Sun. 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.