In 2025, fire departments serving Swanville responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $204K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | -33.3% | |
| 2025 | 18 | +28.6% |
* Well below Swanville'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 Swanville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 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 Swanville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Swanville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Swanville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 984 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 100 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 15.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 42 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 20.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 3.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 34 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 | 23.5 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 | 04915 | 86 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Swanville. 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.