In 2025, fire departments serving Boyertown responded to 123 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
829 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 204 | +59.4% | |
| 2023 | 200 | -2.0% | |
| 2024 | 174 | -13.0% | |
| 2025 | 123 | -29.3% |
For the 27 building fires Boyertown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 156 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 | Undetermined | 25 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 24 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 14.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 23.1% |
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 Boyertown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 37.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boyertown departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boyertown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,699 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 328 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 325 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 308 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 282 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 250 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 184 | 45.7 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 Boyertown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Boyertown.
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.