In 2025, fire departments serving Salisbury responded to 558 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $293K 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 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,695 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.4M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 521 | — | |
| 2022 | 535 | +2.7% | |
| 2023 | 478 | -10.7% | |
| 2024 | 603 | +26.2% | |
| 2025 | 558 | -7.5% |
For the 136 building fires Salisbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 556 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 117 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 66 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 49 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 45 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 29 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 15 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 15 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 183 | 32.9% |
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 Salisbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 187 | 33.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 76 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 62 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 46 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 40 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 61 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Salisbury departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $293,444 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $220,083 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,342 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $110,041 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $97,170 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,683 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Salisbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
29 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,504 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 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,348 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 39.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Salisbury. 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.