In 2025, fire departments serving Verona Island responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $60K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | -36.4% | |
| 2025 | 10 | +42.9% |
* Well below Verona Island'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 0 building fires Verona Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 5 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 | 3 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 20.0% |
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 Verona Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 20.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Verona Island sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,921 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 215 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 205 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 161 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 100 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 16.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 10.6 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 | 04416 | 34 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Verona Island. 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.