In 2025, fire departments serving Shady Side responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4K 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 59% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $510K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | +76.5% | |
| 2024 | 30 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -26.7% |
* Well below Shady Side's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Shady Side departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 10.0% |
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 Shady Side mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shady Side departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shady Side sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,966 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 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,057 | 40.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Shady Side. 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.