In 2025, fire departments serving Butler responded to 337 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,918 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 424 | — | |
| 2022 | 347 | -18.2% | |
| 2023 | 456 | +31.4% | |
| 2024 | 354 | -22.4% | |
| 2025 | 337 | -4.8% |
For the 68 building fires Butler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 311 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 | 53 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 49 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 31 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 24.8% |
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 Butler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 122 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 25 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 22 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 41 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Butler departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Butler sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
23 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,831 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 23.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Butler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Butler.
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.