In 2025, fire departments serving Sanford responded to 183 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,292 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 225 | — | |
| 2022 | 261 | +16.0% | |
| 2023 | 272 | +4.2% | |
| 2024 | 351 | +29.0% | |
| 2025 | 183 | -47.9% |
For the 25 building fires Sanford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 249 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 | 44 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Other | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 72 | 28.9% |
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 Sanford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 95 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sanford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $48,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $14,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $14,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sanford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,910 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 5.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 14.9 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Sanford. 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.