In 2025, fire departments serving Scarborough responded to 228 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,183 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 188 | — | |
| 2022 | 238 | +26.6% | |
| 2023 | 206 | -13.4% | |
| 2024 | 323 | +56.8% | |
| 2025 | 228 | -29.4% |
For the 48 building fires Scarborough departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 131 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 21 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 13.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 28.2% |
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 Scarborough mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 16 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Scarborough departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,236,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $37,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Scarborough sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,415 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 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 6.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 31 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 42.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Scarborough. 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.