In 2025, fire departments serving Middletown responded to 266 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,106 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $478K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 269 | — | |
| 2022 | 207 | -23.0% | |
| 2023 | 177 | -14.5% | |
| 2024 | 187 | +5.6% | |
| 2025 | 266 | +42.2% |
For the 34 building fires Middletown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 97 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 | 20 | 20.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 11 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 24.7% |
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 Middletown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 8 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Middletown departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $772 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Middletown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
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 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 25.3 mi |
Top 10 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 Middletown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Middletown.
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.