In 2025, fire departments serving Reading responded to 100 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
637 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 130 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | -2.3% | |
| 2023 | 143 | +12.6% | |
| 2024 | 137 | -4.2% | |
| 2025 | 100 | -27.0% |
For the 13 building fires Reading departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 23.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 19.8% |
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 Reading mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 80 | 63.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Reading departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Reading 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 24 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 633 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 20 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 45.9 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Reading. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.