In 2025, fire departments serving Seaford responded to 350 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,484 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $24.7M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 263 | — | |
| 2022 | 312 | +18.6% | |
| 2023 | 250 | -19.9% | |
| 2024 | 309 | +23.6% | |
| 2025 | 350 | +13.3% |
For the 92 building fires Seaford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 392 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 | 90 | 23.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 54 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 46 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 88 | 22.4% |
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 Seaford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 265 | 67.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Seaford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $675,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Seaford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,156 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 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 24.1 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Delaware cities with population within ±25% of Seaford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Seaford.
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.