In 2025, fire departments serving Silver Spring responded to 1,337 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,626 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $28.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,175 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,356 | +15.4% | |
| 2023 | 1,398 | +3.1% | |
| 2024 | 1,360 | -2.7% | |
| 2025 | 1,337 | -1.7% |
For the 61 building fires Silver Spring departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,463 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 | 318 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 216 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 115 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 110 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 108 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 54 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 47 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 41 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 41 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 37 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 376 | 25.7% |
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 Silver Spring mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 590 | 40.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 175 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 124 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 93 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 90 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 81 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 55 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 44 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 36 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 23 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 152 | 10.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver Spring departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 55% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $420,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silver Spring 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,828 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 47.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Silver Spring. 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.