In 2025, fire departments serving West Reading responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. West Reading's departments reported 19 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 69 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 84% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
345 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16.1M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 61 | -21.8% | |
| 2023 | 102 | +67.2% | |
| 2024 | 85 | -16.7% | |
| 2025* | 19 | — |
* Well below West Reading'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 West Reading departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | 13 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 15.4% |
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 Reading mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 7 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 9.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Reading sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,647 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 935 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 12.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 328 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 308 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 282 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 258 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 257 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 250 | 39.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Reading. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Reading.
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.