In 2025, fire departments serving Sidney responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
276 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $185K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 85 | +73.5% | |
| 2024 | 99 | +16.5% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -60.6% |
* Well below Sidney'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 2 building fires Sidney departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 6 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Laboratory | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Incinerator area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.0% |
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 Sidney mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 9 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 32.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sidney departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sidney sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 846 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 43 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 30.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04330 | 276 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Sidney. 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.