In 2025, fire departments serving Riva responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. 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 53% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $40K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 18 | +63.6% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +66.7% |
* Well below Riva'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 1 building fires Riva departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Riva mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Riva departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $250 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riva sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,585 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,040 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 651 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 590 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 552 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 530 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 38.1 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 | 21140 | 75 |
Six Maryland cities with population within ±25% of Riva. 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.