In 2025, fire departments serving Ellsworth responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | -17.4% | |
| 2023* | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | -31.2% |
* Well below Ellsworth'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 2 building fires Ellsworth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | Outside area, other | 8 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Ellsworth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ellsworth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,418 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 62 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 36 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 24.1 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 Ellsworth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ellsworth.
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.