In 2025, fire departments serving Saco responded to 223 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,041 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 160 | — | |
| 2022 | 175 | +9.4% | |
| 2023 | 166 | -5.1% | |
| 2024 | 317 | +91.0% | |
| 2025 | 223 | -29.7% |
For the 29 building fires Saco departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 194 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 | 34 | 17.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 28 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 15.5% |
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 Saco mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 85 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 22 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Saco departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Saco 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,413 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 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 12.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.8 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 | 04072 | 1,041 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Saco. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Saco.
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.