In 2025, fire departments serving Lower Makefield responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $720K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
502 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 125 | — | |
| 2023 | 97 | -22.4% | |
| 2024 | 122 | +25.8% | |
| 2025 | 157 | +28.7% |
* Well below Lower Makefield'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 Lower Makefield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 101 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 | Undetermined | 62 | 61.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 4.0% |
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 Lower Makefield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 80.2% | |
| 2 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Candle | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Sunlight | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lower Makefield departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $720,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lower Makefield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 105,947 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 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 25.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19067 | 502 |
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Lower Makefield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.