In 2025, fire departments serving New Castle responded to 1,009 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,682 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 999 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,073 | +7.4% | |
| 2023 | 1,266 | +18.0% | |
| 2024 | 1,335 | +5.5% | |
| 2025 | 1,009 | -24.4% |
For the 310 building fires New Castle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,103 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 | 294 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 257 | 23.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 119 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 97 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 32 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 31 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 24 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 168 | 15.2% |
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 New Castle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 671 | 60.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 146 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 64 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 40 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 59 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Castle departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Castle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
36 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 13 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,741 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 910 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 41.6 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 Delaware cities with population within ±25% of New Castle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Castle.
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.