In 2025, fire departments serving New Castle responded to 340 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 56% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,597 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 531 | — | |
| 2022 | 472 | -11.1% | |
| 2023 | 596 | +26.3% | |
| 2024 | 658 | +10.4% | |
| 2025 | 340 | -48.3% |
For the 69 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 946 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 | 214 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 201 | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 88 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 63 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 38 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 19 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 215 | 22.7% |
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 New Castle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 446 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 118 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 82 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 69 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 44 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 35 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 30 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 18 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 73 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Castle departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Castle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,596 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 38.2 mi |
Top 9 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 New Castle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 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.