In 2025, fire departments serving Elkins Park responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Elkins Park's departments reported 55 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 95 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
473 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $456K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 104 | -18.8% | |
| 2023 | 103 | -1.0% | |
| 2024 | 83 | -19.4% | |
| 2025* | 55 | — |
* Well below Elkins Park's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 10 building fires Elkins Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 127 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 | 34 | 26.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 21 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 18.1% |
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 Elkins Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 53.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Candle | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 5.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elkins Park departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elkins Park sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,786 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,225 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 32.1 mi |
Top 9 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 Elkins Park. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elkins Park.
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.