In 2025, fire departments serving Standish responded to 121 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $184K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Biological hazard, confirmed or suspected lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Dec peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
661 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $220K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 52 | — | |
| 2022 | 164 | — | |
| 2023 | 172 | +4.9% | |
| 2024 | 152 | -11.6% | |
| 2025 | 121 | -20.4% |
* Well below Standish'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 7 building fires Standish departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 125 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 | Outside area, other | 28 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 13 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 21.6% |
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 Standish mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Match | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Standish departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $183,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Standish sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,975 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 329 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.9 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 Standish. 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.