In 2025, fire departments serving Thorndale responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 75% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
56 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $202K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -7.7% | |
| 2025 | 16 | +33.3% |
* Well below Thorndale'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 Thorndale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Thorndale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Other static discharge | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Thorndale departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Thorndale sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,321 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 | 741 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 110 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 101 | 36.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 30.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Thorndale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Thorndale.
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.