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2025 County Report

Fires in Baltimore city, MD

In 2025, fire departments serving Baltimore city responded to 5,022 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $130K property loss.

584,548 residents FIPS 24510 14 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
5,022
22,721 across 5 years
Building fires
101
75 wildland
Property loss
$2.4M
$2.0M structure · $409K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

5,022
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 1,177 23.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 598 11.9%
Cooking fire, confined to container 409 8.1%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 406 8.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 365 7.3%
All other categories 2,067 41.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Baltimore city?

Nov peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 448
Feb 404
Mar 470
Apr 387
May 377
Jun 412
Jul 442
Aug 373
Sep 351
Oct 414
Nov 488
Dec 456
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Baltimore city

22,721 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,165
2022 5,588
2023 5,513
2024 5,433
2025 5,022
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 101 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
229
Cause undetermined
5%
20
Intentional / arson
9%
37
Equipment / heat source failure
26%
105
Under investigation
2%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
10
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $557K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Baltimore city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 28% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $130,000 BALTIMORE Fire, other Significant
2 $80,000 BALTIMORE Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 baltimore Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $50,000 BALTIMORE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $50,000 BALTIMORE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $47,000 BALTIMORE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $40,000 Baltimore Building fires Significant
8 $40,000 BALTIMORE Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 BALTIMORE Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $30,000 BALTIMORE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Baltimore city compares

Baltimore city vs MD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.59
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Baltimore city
8.59
MD avg
8.34
US avg
7.15
0.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Baltimore city
0.17
MD avg
1.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Baltimore city
0
MD avg
2.7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Baltimore city

12 cities mapped to FIPS 24510.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MD

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 MDBWR-FY19-RX-Mill Ditch 2019 FWS 974
2 MDMDS-FY19-RX-Thorofare 2019 State 428
3 MDMDFN-FY19-RX-Nassawango 87-88 2019 PRI 205
4 MDBWR-FY19-RX-Shorters Wharf East 2019 FWS 125
5 MDBWR-FY19-RX-Unit F2 2019 FWS 113
6 MDBWR-FY19-RX-Wolf Pit 2019 FWS 111
7 MDMDS-FY19-RX-Marshy Hope 1-1 2019 State 80
8 MDBWR-FY19-RX-McGraws Island 2019 FWS 77
9 Otto Farm Rx 2021 NPS 62
10 MDPWR-FY19-RX-NT7 Range 1 2019 FWS 60

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.