In 2025, fire departments serving Exton responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Exton's departments reported 49 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.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
475 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $64K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 77 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | +36.4% | |
| 2023 | 119 | +13.3% | |
| 2024 | 125 | +5.0% | |
| 2025* | 49 | — |
* Well below Exton'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 8 building fires Exton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 181 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 | 40 | 22.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 12.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 17.7% |
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 Exton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 67 | 37.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 32 | 17.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Sunlight | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 7.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Exton departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Exton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,722 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 910 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 343 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 225 | 49.8 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 Exton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Exton.
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.