In 2025, fire departments serving Lower Salford responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 79% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $302K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 34 | — |
* Well below Lower Salford'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 5 building fires Lower Salford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Salford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 77.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lower Salford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lower Salford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,672 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 910 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 536 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 47.4 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 Lower Salford. 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.