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2025 County Report

Fires in Cumberland County, ME

In 2025, fire departments serving Cumberland County responded to 1,979 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

319,893 residents FIPS 23005 147 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
1,979
10,677 across 5 years
Building fires
165
184 wildland
Property loss
$8.4M
$7.5M structure · $948K contents
Casualties
2 / 5
2 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

1,979
Total Incidents
Power line down 264 13.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 254 12.8%
Building fires 165 8.3%
Cooking fire, confined to container 127 6.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 113 5.7%
All other categories 1,056 53.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cumberland County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 191
Feb 150
Mar 176
Apr 148
May 127
Jun 170
Jul 205
Aug 203
Sep 158
Oct 192
Nov 172
Dec 87
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cumberland County

10,677 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,563
2022 2,116
2023 2,312
2024 2,707
2025 1,979
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 165 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
91
Cause undetermined
13%
27
Intentional / arson
11%
23
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
28
Under investigation
17%
34
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cumberland County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 Scarborough Building fires Major
2 $1,500,000 Scarborough Building fires Major
3 $1,236,300 Scarborough Building fires Major
4 $500,000 Portland Building fires Major
5 $500,000 SCARBOROUGH Building fires Major
6 $400,000 HARPSWELL Building fires Major
7 $250,000 GORHAM Building fires Major
8 $200,000 Harpswell Building fires Significant
9 $183,900 Standish Building fires Significant
10 $165,200 Harpswell Building fires Significant
06 How Cumberland County compares

Cumberland County vs ME vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.19
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cumberland County
6.19
ME avg
10.96
US avg
7.15
0.52
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cumberland County
0.52
ME avg
1.72
US avg
0.82
6.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cumberland County
6.3
ME avg
3.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cumberland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 23005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cumberland County

3 departments report from this county.

Pownal Fire and Rescue
Pownal
FDID C4080 40 incidents
Harrison Fire Department
Harrison
FDID C2660 0 incidents
Sebago Fire Department
sebago
FDID C4340 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ME

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 MERCR-FY19-RX-Dean Tito 2019 FWS 10
2 Pooler Farm RX 2024 NPS 9
3 Brave Boat Harbor 2016 FWS 7
4 EASTMAN STREAM (OX COVE) 2010 FWS 7
5 MERCR-FY19-RX-Houston Field 2019 FWS 6
6 ROCKY BROOK 2011 PRI 6
7 Saint Croix Island RX 2021 NPS 2
8 MERCR-FY19-RX-Days Landing 2019 FWS 1
9 Jordan Pond RX 2024 NPS 1
10 Flye Farm RX 2024 NPS 1

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.