In 2025, fire departments serving Chester County responded to 1,935 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips.
19,250 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,898 | |
| 2022 | 4,395 | |
| 2023 | 4,663 | |
| 2024 | 4,359 | |
| 2025 | 1,935 |
For the 483 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Chester County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 71% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | WEST CHESTER | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | East BradfordTowns | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $800,000 | Phoenixville | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $600,000 | SchuylkillTownship | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $500,000 | UWCHLAN TOWNSHIP | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $250,000 | ValleyTownship of | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $250,000 | DOWNINGTOWN | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $200,000 | Honey Brook | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $200,000 | Thorndale | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $200,000 | West GoshenTownshi | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 42029.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Tredyffrin | 31,740 | View › |
| West Goshen | 23,119 | View › |
| West Whiteland | 19,720 | View › |
| Uwchlan | 19,107 | View › |
| West Chester | 19,016 | View › |
| Phoenixville | 18,723 | View › |
| East Goshen | 18,377 | View › |
| Caln | 14,430 | View › |
| West Bradford | 14,395 | View › |
| East Whiteland | 14,143 | View › |
| Coatesville | 13,316 | View › |
| Upper Uwchlan | 12,474 | View › |
23 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hopewell | 2012 | NPS | 812 |
| 2 | Blue Mountain | 2024 | NPS | 577 |
| 3 | River Road | 2023 | USFS | 430 |
| 4 | SNYDER | 1999 | NPS | 374 |
| 5 | Town Line Church | 1984 | USFS | 207 |
| 6 | Little Round Top Munshower | 2021 | NPS | 79 |
| 7 | Sugar Bay | 2023 | USFS | 62 |
| 8 | Spring | 2003 | USFS | 53 |
| 9 | Salmon Creek | 2010 | USFS | 48 |
| 10 | BELLTOWN | 2011 | USFS | 42 |
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.