ZIP 19973 recorded 416 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,711 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Sussex County, DE. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
1,711 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 290 | |
| 2022 | 348 | |
| 2023 | 281 | |
| 2024 | 376 | |
| 2025 | 416 |
Nov peaks. Jun dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 19973 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 496 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Power line down | 134 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 118 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 102 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Unauthorized burning | 84 | 4.9% |
For the 116 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 19973 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 102 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 65 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 50 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 36 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 118 | 26.8% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 294 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 45 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 19973 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 815% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $700,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 3 | $675,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 4 | $475,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 5 | $418,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 6 | $400,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 7 | $368,900 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 8 | $278,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 19973.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seaford | 1,479 | |
| 2 | Blades | 68 | |
| 3 | Bridgeville | 8 | |
| 4 | Laurel | 3 | |
| 5 | Georgetown | 1 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester County | MD | 1.00 | FIPS 24019 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,711 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.