In 2025, fire departments serving Broomall responded to 131 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
646 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 120 | — | |
| 2022 | 128 | +6.7% | |
| 2023 | 139 | +8.6% | |
| 2024 | 128 | -7.9% | |
| 2025 | 131 | +2.3% |
For the 16 building fires Broomall departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 122 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 31.1% |
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 Broomall mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 47.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Broomall departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Broomall sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 49,713 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 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 46.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Broomall. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Broomall.
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.