ZIP 20723 recorded 124 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 567 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Howard County, MD.
567 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69 | |
| 2022 | 95 | |
| 2023 | 124 | |
| 2024 | 155 | |
| 2025 | 124 |
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 20723 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 205 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Carbon monoxide incident | 35 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Passenger vehicle fire | 32 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 27 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hazardous condition, other | 22 | 3.9% |
For the 5 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 20723 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 38.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 7 | 9.3% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 65.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Match | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 3 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 20723 across 2021–2025. These 3 fires alone account for 3400100% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $29,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2022 | Significant |
| 2 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | 2022 | Significant |
| 3 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 20723.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurel | 144 | |
| 2 | Olney | 1 | |
| 3 | Scaggsville | 1 |
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 — 567 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.