In 2025, fire departments serving Newtown responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 64% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
626 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 87 | — | |
| 2022 | 117 | +34.5% | |
| 2023 | 115 | -1.7% | |
| 2024 | 144 | +25.2% | |
| 2025 | 163 | +13.2% |
For the 30 building fires Newtown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 127 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 | 25 | 19.7% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 13.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 13.4% |
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 Newtown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 75 | 59.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newtown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newtown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 37,635 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 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 49.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Newtown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newtown.
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.