In 2025, fire departments serving Norristown responded to 624 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.
3,390 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 588 | — | |
| 2022 | 806 | +37.1% | |
| 2023 | 720 | -10.7% | |
| 2024 | 652 | -9.4% | |
| 2025 | 624 | -4.3% |
For the 188 building fires Norristown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 385 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 | 92 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 48 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 39 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 17 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 16 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 105 | 27.3% |
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 Norristown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 246 | 63.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 16 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norristown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norristown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,535 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 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 46.6 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 Norristown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norristown.
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.