In 2025, fire departments serving Reserve responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $264K 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 58% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
94 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $331K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +12.5% | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | -17.2% |
* Well below Reserve's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Reserve departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Office | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Reserve mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Reserve departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $264,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Reserve sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,228 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 39.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Reserve. 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.