In 2025, fire departments serving Villanova responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
231 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | — | |
| 2023 | 48 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | 62 | +29.2% | |
| 2025 | 50 | -19.4% |
* Well below Villanova'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 5 building fires Villanova departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | 16 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 17.2% |
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 Villanova mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 43.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Villanova departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Villanova sits below 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,627 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 45.9 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 Villanova. 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.