In 2025, fire departments serving West Grove responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 90% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
93 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $271K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | +40.0% | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | -23.1% |
* Well below West Grove'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 7 building fires West Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 9 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 West Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 61.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Grove departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Grove sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,754 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 110 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 101 | 27.9 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 West Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Grove.
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.