In 2025, fire departments serving Lower Mount Bethel responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | -15.4% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -27.3% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +62.5% |
* Well below Lower Mount Bethel'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 6 building fires Lower Mount Bethel departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Stage area - performance, basketball court, boxing | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Lower Mount Bethel mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lower Mount Bethel sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,963 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,126 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 33.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Lower Mount Bethel. 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.