In 2025, fire departments across Delaware responded to 10,716 fire and hazmat incidents — including the DEBHR-FY19-RX-Wildflower Units 2-3-9 wildfire that burned 43 acres in 2019.
Delaware ranks #55 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Sep dips.
52,824 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9,239 | |
| 2022 | 10,038 | |
| 2023 | 10,804 | |
| 2024 | 12,027 | |
| 2025 | 10,716 |
For the 2,534 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 3,613 | 71 / 3,542 | 2,180 | |
| 2 | Equipment & vehicle use | 790 | 16 / 774 | 124 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 787 | 26 / 761 | 2,383 | |
| 4 | Natural (lightning) | 325 | 10 / 315 | 9 | |
| 5 | Debris & open burning | 28 | 28 / 0 | 109 | |
| 6 | Smoking | 24 | 24 / 0 | 52 | |
| 7 | Other causes | 18 | 3 / 15 | 17 | |
| 8 | Recreation & ceremony | 14 | 14 / 0 | 21 | |
| 9 | Railroad operations | 3 | 3 / 0 | 10 | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1 / 0 | 2 | |
| 11 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 | 1 / 0 | 7 | |
| 12 | Power generation / utility | 1 | 1 / 0 | 2 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 20,526 | $32.6M | 19 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 10,870 | $10 | 0 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 8,158 | $15K | 0 | |
| 4 | Outdoor fires | 5,693 | $47K | 0 | |
| 5 | Cooking-related | 5,389 | $28K | 0 | |
| 6 | Wildland fires | 3,327 | $22K | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 2,824 | $4.0M | 2 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 2,288 | $89K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,005 | $286K | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of Delaware's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | DEWEY | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $700,000 | Seaford | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $675,000 | Seaford | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $500,000 | Wilmington | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $475,000 | Olde Mill | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $400,000 | Seaford | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $368,900 | Olde Mill | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $350,000 | Wilmington | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $250,000 | New Castle | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $250,000 | LINCOLN | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Delaware apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 3 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Castle County | 7,158 | 268,447 |
| 2 | Sussex County | 2,521 | 71,450 |
| 3 | Kent County | 1,180 | 90,586 |
Top 3 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sussex County | 35.28 | 2,521 | 71,450 | |
| 2 | New Castle County | 26.66 | 7,158 | 268,447 | |
| 3 | Kent County | 13.03 | 1,180 | 90,586 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DEBHR-FY19-RX-Wildflower Units 2-3-9 | 2019 | FWS | 43 |
| 2 | DEPHR-FY19-RX-HQ Field 321 | 2019 | FWS | 35 |
| 3 | DEPHR-FY19-RX-HQ Field 318 | 2019 | FWS | 21 |
| 4 | DEBHR-FY19-RX-WSG Field 8 | 2018 | FWS | 12 |
4 perimeters and 111 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 4 | 111 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 18 | |
| 2000s | 105 | |
| 2010s | 70 | |
| 2020s | 5 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 198 ignitions total.
214 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 20 | |
| 10-19 | 9 | |
| 20-29 | 47 | |
| 30-39 | 42 | |
| 40-49 | 24 | |
| 50-59 | 18 | |
| 60-69 | 24 | |
| 70-79 | 11 | |
| 80+ | 8 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.