ZIP 20853 recorded 121 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 523 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Montgomery County, MD.
523 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 88 | |
| 2022 | 114 | |
| 2023 | 112 | |
| 2024 | 88 | |
| 2025 | 121 |
Nov peaks. Mar dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 20853 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 131 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Power line down | 87 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Hazardous condition, other | 57 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 51 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Carbon monoxide incident | 31 | 5.9% |
For the 4 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 20853 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 10 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 22 | 25.0% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 11 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 20853 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 127% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 4 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | 2025 | Significant |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 20853.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockville | 498 | |
| 2 | Silver Spring | 14 | |
| 3 | Olney | 7 | |
| 4 | Germantown | 2 | |
| 5 | Potomac | 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 — 523 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.