ZIP 21842 recorded 256 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,043 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Worcester County, MD. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,043 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 191 | |
| 2022 | 195 | |
| 2023 | 192 | |
| 2024 | 209 | |
| 2025 | 256 |
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 21842 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 189 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 134 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 87 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Aircraft standby | 77 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | 58 | 5.6% |
For the 34 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 21842 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 14.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 11 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 63 | 37.1% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 20 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 22 | 12.9% |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 21842.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ocean City | 1,028 | |
| 2 | Berlin | 7 | |
| 3 | Ocean View | 1 | |
| 4 | Selbyville | 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 — 1,043 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.