In 2025, fire departments serving Ephrata responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Ephrata's departments reported 65 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 155 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 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
773 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $10.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 197 | — | |
| 2022 | 165 | -16.2% | |
| 2023 | 176 | +6.7% | |
| 2024 | 170 | -3.4% | |
| 2025* | 65 | — |
* Well below Ephrata'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 19 building fires Ephrata departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 135 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 | 23 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 12 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 28.9% |
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 Ephrata mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 43.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 15 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ephrata departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $12,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ephrata sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,027 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 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 282 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 184 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 168 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 109 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 29.2 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 Ephrata. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ephrata.
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.