In 2025, fire departments serving Lancaster County responded to 2,581 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
22,372 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4,975 | |
| 2022 | 5,145 | |
| 2023 | 5,258 | |
| 2024 | 4,413 | |
| 2025 | 2,581 |
For the 685 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Lancaster County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 69% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | REINHOLDS | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | NEW HOLLAND | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $715,000 | LITITZ | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $505,000 | NEW HOLLAND | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $450,000 | LANCASTER | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $325,000 | Manheim | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $300,000 | LITITZ | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $250,000 | Lancaster | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $200,000 | StrasburgTownship | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $150,000 | MANHEIM TOWNSHIP | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 42071.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | 57,970 | View › |
| East Hempfield | 26,287 | View › |
| Manor | 21,798 | View › |
| Warwick | 19,037 | View › |
| East Lampeter | 17,684 | View › |
| West Lampeter | 17,292 | View › |
| West Hempfield | 17,052 | View › |
| Ephrata | 13,738 | View › |
| Rapho | 11,987 | View › |
| Elizabethtown | 11,805 | View › |
| East Cocalico | 10,820 | View › |
| Columbia | 10,203 | View › |
36 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.