In 2025, fire departments serving Ambler responded to 97 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
689 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $30K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 151 | — | |
| 2022 | 117 | -22.5% | |
| 2023 | 167 | +42.7% | |
| 2024 | 157 | -6.0% | |
| 2025 | 97 | -38.2% |
For the 25 building fires Ambler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 201 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 80 | 39.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 14 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 14.4% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Ambler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 100 | 49.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 21.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 22 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 0.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 1.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ambler sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50,044 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 37.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 44.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Ambler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ambler.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.