ZIP 20850 recorded 207 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,017 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Montgomery County, MD.
1,017 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 196 | |
| 2022 | 184 | |
| 2023 | 223 | |
| 2024 | 207 | |
| 2025 | 207 |
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 20850 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 339 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 86 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Hazardous condition, other | 84 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Carbon monoxide incident | 65 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Power line down | 60 | 5.9% |
For the 13 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 20850 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 20 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 65 | 31.7% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 12 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 24 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 20850 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 382% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 2 | $700,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Major |
| 3 | $350,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Major |
| 5 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Major |
| 6 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 7 | $250,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 8 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 20850.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockville | 952 | |
| 2 | Silver Spring | 23 | |
| 3 | Gaithersburg | 11 | |
| 4 | Bethesda | 8 | |
| 5 | Derwood | 8 |
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 — 1,017 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.