In 2025, fire departments serving Mountville responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 62% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
209 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $685K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | — | |
| 2023 | 50 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 59 | +18.0% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -55.9% |
* Well below Mountville'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 4 building fires Mountville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 6 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 20.5% |
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 Mountville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mountville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,800 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mountville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,870 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 935 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 109 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 74 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 40.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Mountville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mountville.
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.