In 2025, fire departments serving Upper Darby responded to 377 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 62% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,044 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 369 | — | |
| 2022 | 475 | +28.7% | |
| 2023 | 396 | -16.6% | |
| 2024 | 427 | +7.8% | |
| 2025 | 377 | -11.7% |
For the 72 building fires Upper Darby departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 390 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 | 50 | 12.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 48 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 47 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 26 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 117 | 30.0% |
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 Upper Darby mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 211 | 54.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 48 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 20 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 3 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Upper Darby departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $215,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Upper Darby sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 61,988 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 49.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Upper Darby. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Upper Darby.
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.