In 2025, fire departments serving Elizabethtown responded to 170 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,052 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | — | |
| 2022 | 222 | +48.0% | |
| 2023 | 250 | +12.6% | |
| 2024 | 260 | +4.0% | |
| 2025 | 170 | -34.6% |
For the 35 building fires Elizabethtown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 11 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 24.7% |
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 Elizabethtown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elizabethtown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $31,606 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,316 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elizabethtown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,943 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 935 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 109 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 74 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 54 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 39.2 mi |
Top 7 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 Elizabethtown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elizabethtown.
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.