In 2025, fire departments serving Jenkintown responded to 106 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
579 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $398K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | — | |
| 2022 | 162 | +76.1% | |
| 2023 | 109 | -32.7% | |
| 2024 | 110 | +0.9% | |
| 2025 | 106 | -3.6% |
For the 19 building fires Jenkintown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 96 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 | 18 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 26.0% |
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 Jenkintown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 9 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jenkintown departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jenkintown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
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 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 32.4 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 Jenkintown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jenkintown.
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.