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2025 County Report

Fires in Frederick County, MD

In 2025, fire departments serving Frederick County responded to 1,757 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

199,617 residents FIPS 24021 114 cities · 25 fire depts
Total incidents
1,757
8,492 across 5 years
Building fires
122
194 wildland
Property loss
$5.4M
$3.3M structure · $2.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 10
0 civ deaths · 10 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

1,757
Total Incidents
Power line down 339 19.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 262 14.9%
Building fires 122 6.9%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 93 5.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 90 5.1%
All other categories 851 48.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Frederick County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 133
Feb 145
Mar 184
Apr 154
May 154
Jun 133
Jul 149
Aug 131
Sep 130
Oct 128
Nov 152
Dec 164
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Frederick County

8,492 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,553
2022 1,653
2023 1,730
2024 1,799
2025 1,757
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 122 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
126
Cause undetermined
10%
25
Intentional / arson
2%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
47
Under investigation
16%
40
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Frederick County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 61% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Walkersville Building fires Major
2 $280,000 Rocky Ridge Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $275,000 POTOMAC VALLEY Fires in structures other than in a building Major
4 $200,000 Middletown Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Walkersville Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 Ijamsville Building fires Significant
7 $150,000 Frederick Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $100,000 Ijamsville Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Monrovia Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $100,000 Thurmont Building fires Significant
06 How Frederick County compares

Frederick County vs MD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Frederick County
8.8
MD avg
8.34
US avg
7.15
0.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Frederick County
0.61
MD avg
1.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Frederick County
0
MD avg
2.7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Frederick County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 24021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Frederick County

25 departments report from this county.

INDEPENDENT HOSE CO NO 1
—
FDID 10001 0 incidents
Junior Fire Company2 Inc
Frederick
FDID 10002 0 incidents 15 paid 35 vol
UNITED FIRE CO
—
FDID 10003 0 incidents
CITIZENS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10004 0 incidents
BRUNSWICK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10005 0 incidents
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.