ZIP 20874 recorded 191 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 826 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Montgomery County, MD.
826 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 146 | |
| 2022 | 151 | |
| 2023 | 165 | |
| 2024 | 173 | |
| 2025 | 191 |
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 20874 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 206 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Hazardous condition, other | 92 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Building fires | 80 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 65 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 44 | 5.3% |
For the 20 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 20874 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 61 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 20 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 14 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 78 | 33.1% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 25 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 16 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 27 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 20874 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 391% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 4 | $130,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 20874.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germantown | 815 | |
| 2 | Gaithersburg | 6 | |
| 3 | Bethesda | 1 | |
| 4 | 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 — 826 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.