ZIP 21045 recorded 106 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 495 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Howard County, MD.
495 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 89 | |
| 2022 | 59 | |
| 2023 | 101 | |
| 2024 | 140 | |
| 2025 | 106 |
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 21045 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 182 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Carbon monoxide incident | 30 | 6.1% | |
| 3 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 30 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 28 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Passenger vehicle fire | 20 | 4.0% |
For the 2 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 21045 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 23.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 13 | 20.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 12 | 18.8% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 56.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 4 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 21045 across 2021–2025. These 5 fires alone account for 317601% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 3 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $100 | Natural vegetation fire, other | 2025 | Significant |
| 5 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 2021 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 21045.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbia | 493 | |
| 2 | Chevy Chase | 1 | |
| 3 | Elkridge | 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 — 495 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.