In 2025, fire departments serving Telford responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Telford's departments reported 30 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 71 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
354 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $934K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | +54.0% | |
| 2023 | 88 | -9.3% | |
| 2024 | 76 | -13.6% | |
| 2025* | 30 | — |
* Well below Telford'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 6 building fires Telford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 27 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 23.1% |
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 Telford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 35.9% | |
| 2 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Telford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Telford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,998 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 910 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 47.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18969 | 354 |
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Telford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Telford.
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.