In 2025, fire departments serving Sharon responded to 234 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Accident, potential accident, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,170 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $797K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 238 | — | |
| 2022 | 250 | +5.0% | |
| 2023 | 262 | +4.8% | |
| 2024 | 186 | -29.0% | |
| 2025 | 234 | +25.8% |
For the 31 building fires Sharon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 316 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 | 78 | 24.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 76 | 24.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 48 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 58 | 18.4% |
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 Sharon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 212 | 67.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sharon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sharon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,251 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 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 21.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 29 | 42.5 mi |
Top 7 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 Sharon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sharon.
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.