In 2025, fire departments serving Temple Hills responded to 192 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,408 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $10.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 323 | — | |
| 2022 | 275 | -14.9% | |
| 2023 | 300 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | 318 | +6.0% | |
| 2025 | 192 | -39.6% |
For the 17 building fires Temple Hills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 327 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 | 90 | 27.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 55 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 25 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 16 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 11 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 62 | 19.0% |
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 Temple Hills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 237 | 72.5% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Incendiary device | 3 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Temple Hills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Temple Hills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,217 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 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 370 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 29.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 150 | 41.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Temple Hills. 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.