Maryland fire deaths drop 13% in 2024, report shows
The report by the Maryland State Fire Marshal gives an overview of fire-related fatalities across the state.
Maryland recorded 73 deaths from fires in 2024, a 13.1% decrease from the 84 deaths in 2023.
The deaths occurred across 67 fatal fires statewide.
Where did most fatal fires occur?
Residential fires accounted for 79% of the fatalities, with most incidents occurring in a bedroom or living space.
Baltimore City reported the highest number of fire deaths with 19 fatalities in 15 fires, the same total as 2023.
Baltimore County followed with 13 deaths in 13 fires, up from 11 deaths in 2023.
What were the leading causes of fatal fires in 2024?
Smoking materials were the leading cause of fatal fires in 2024, attributed to a total of 10 fatal fires.
Transportation-related incidents resulted in eight deaths.
Seven of the fatal fires were caused by electrical malfunctions, and cooking-related incidents were attributed to five fatal fires.
Calvert, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset and Talbot counties reported no fire deaths in 2024.
Who was most at risk?
Adults over 70 represented 37% of fire victims, while those aged 50 to 69 accounted for 31.5% of deaths.
60% of fatalities were men, and 40% were women.
The winter months proved most dangerous, with 53% of deaths occurring during the season.
Most fatal fires occurred between midnight and 8 a.m., when victims were most likely sleeping, according to the report.
March was the month with the highest amount of fire fatalities
The presence of smoke alarms
According to the report, working smoke alarms were present in only 20 fatal fires.
Nine fires occurred in homes with no alarms at all, while six additional fires involved smoke alarms that were present but not functioning.
In 20 cases, investigators could not determine smoke alarm status, and 14 fires occurred in structures too damaged to assess alarm presence.
"A functioning smoke alarm often marks the difference between life and death, providing early warning and critical time to escape," Acting State Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray said in the report.
In 2024, Maryland launched "Get Alarmed Maryland," an online portal allowing residents to request smoke alarms through the state fire marshal's office.
The program includes a tracking system to collect data on installations and alarm performance.
Mowbray says the data will be used to identify areas most in need of fire safety outreach.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2025 Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar wins race for 2nd consecutive year as Wout van Aert wins Stage 21
Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar has won the 2025 Tour de France, earning the championship for the second consecutive year and fourth time in his career. Wout van Aert won the final day of the race, finishing first through a difficult Stage 21 that was paused with 50 kilometers to go and the times frozen due to dangerously slippery road conditions as the cyclists navigated the Butte Montmartre. That took any suspense or competitive element out of the final stage's last stretch, but provided another demonstration at what a difficult ordeal completing this race is. "Great from the organisers to neutralise the GC times so nobody had to risk anything," Pogačar said from the winner's podium, via The Guardian. "But I gave it a go. Wout was incredibly strong at the top of the climb and he deserves this big, big win." Pogačar had a comfortable lead of 4 minutes, 24 seconds over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, who won the 2022 and 2023 races. He had to cross the finish line to officially be declared the winner of the 112th Tour de France, but still raced as if he could lose the race toward the end, finishing among the last six. With four Tour de France championships, Pogačar ties British cyclist Chris Froome for second among all-time wins. Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have each won the race five times. Here are the final standings with the top 10 finishers for the 112th racing of the Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia: 76 hours, 0 minutes, 32 seconds Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark: 76:04.56 (4 minutes, 24 seconds behind) Florian Lipowitz, Germany: 76:11.32 (11 minutes behind) Oscar Onley, Great Britain: 76:12.44 (12 minutes, 12 seconds behind) Felix Gall, Austria: 76:17.44 (17 minutes, 12 seconds behind) Tobias Johannessen, Norway: 76:20.46 (20 minutes, 14 seconds behind) Kevin Vauquelin, France: 76:23.07 (22 minutes, 35 seconds behind) Primoz Roglic, Slovenia: 76:26.02 (25 minutes, 30 seconds behind) Ben Healy, Ireland: 76:28.34 (28 minutes, 2 seconds behind) Jordan Jégat, France: 76:33.14 (32 minutes, 32 seconds behind) The victory for Pogačar, 26, was his fourth Tour de France championship. He also earned consecutive Coupe Omnisports trophies in 2020 and 2021, prior to Vingegaard's two straight wins. Last year's Tour de France victory made him only the third male cyclist in history to win the Triple Crown of Cycling, also finishing first in the Giro and the World Championships during the same year.
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Analysis-Out-gunned Europe accepts least-worst US trade deal
By Mark John LONDON (Reuters) -In the end, Europe found it lacked the leverage to pull Donald Trump's America into a trade pact on its terms and so has signed up to a deal it can just about stomach - albeit one that is clearly skewed in the U.S.'s favour. As such, Sunday's agreement on a blanket 15% tariff after a months-long stand-off is a reality check on the aspirations of the 27-country European Union to become an economic power able to stand up to the likes of the United States or China. The cold shower is all the more bracing given that the EU has long portrayed itself as an export superpower and champion of rules-based commerce for the benefit both of its own soft power and the global economy as a whole. For sure, the new tariff that will now be applied is a lot more digestible than the 30% "reciprocal" tariff which Trump threatened to invoke in a few days. While it should ensure Europe avoids recession, it will likely keep its economy in the doldrums: it sits somewhere between two tariff scenarios the European Central Bank last month forecast would mean 0.5-0.9% economic growth this year compared to just over 1% in a trade tension-free environment. But this is nonetheless a landing point that would have been scarcely imaginable only months ago in the pre-Trump 2.0 era, when the EU along with much of the world could count on U.S. tariffs averaging out at around 1.5%. Even when Britain agreed a baseline tariff of 10% with the United States back in May, EU officials were adamant they could do better and - convinced the bloc had the economic heft to square up to Trump - pushed for a "zero-for-zero" tariff pact. It took a few weeks of fruitless talks with their U.S. counterparts for the Europeans to accept that 10% was the best they could get and a few weeks more to take the same 15% baseline which the United States agreed with Japan last week. "The EU does not have more leverage than the U.S., and the Trump administration is not rushing things," said one senior official in a European capital who was being briefed on last week's negotiations as they closed in around the 15% level. That official and others pointed to the pressure from Europe's export-oriented businesses to clinch a deal and so ease the levels of uncertainty starting to hit businesses from Finland's Nokia to Swedish steelmaker SSAB. "We were dealt a bad hand. This deal is the best possible play under the circumstances," said one EU diplomat. "Recent months have clearly shown how damaging uncertainty in global trade is for European businesses." NOW WHAT? That imbalance - or what the trade negotiators have been calling "asymmetry" - is manifest in the final deal. Not only is it expected that the EU will now call off any retaliation and remain open to U.S. goods on existing terms, but it has also pledged $600 billion of investment in the United States. The time-frame for that remains undefined, as do other details of the accord for now. As talks unfolded, it became clear that the EU came to the conclusion it had more to lose from all-out confrontation. The retaliatory measures it threatened totalled some 93 billion euros - less than half its U.S. goods trade surplus of nearly 200 billion euros. True, a growing number of EU capitals were also ready to envisage wide-ranging anti-coercion measures that would have allowed the bloc to target the services trade in which the United States had a surplus of some $75 billion last year. But even then, there was no clear majority for targeting the U.S. digital services which European citizens enjoy and for which there are scant homegrown alternatives - from Netflix to Uber to Microsoft cloud services. It remains to be seen whether this will encourage European leaders to accelerate the economic reforms and diversification of trading allies to which they have long paid lip service but which have been held back by national divisions. Describing the deal as a painful compromise that was an "existential threat" for many of its members, Germany's BGA wholesale and export association said it was time for Europe to reduce its reliance on its biggest trading partner. "Let's look on the past months as a wake-up call," said BGA President Dirk Jandura. "Europe must now prepare itself strategically for the future - we need new trade deals with the biggest industrial powers of the world." (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Christian Kraemer and Maria Martinez in Berlin; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Nick Zieminski) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Women's Euro: England crowned European champions
England crowned European champions The Women's Euro delivered its verdict on the evening of Sunday, July 27, 2025. England have been crowned European champions, overcoming Spain in the final. Just like the last Euro final and the World Cup, England (the European champions) and Spain (the world champions) faced off in this blockbuster Women's Euro final—a true clash at the pinnacle of women's football. Spain lived up to their billing by taking the lead in the first half. It was Caldentey who broke the deadlock before the half-hour mark (25', 1-0). In the second half, England found their answer. Russo netted the equalizer (57', 1-1). With the score level at full time, the match headed into extra time. But once again, neither side could find the breakthrough, and it all came down to the nerve-wracking penalty shootout. In this ultimate test, Mead and Williamson missed their spot-kicks for England, while three Spaniards faltered: Caldentey, Bonmati, and Paralluelo.
