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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 301 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss.

43,787 residents FIPS 42127 95 cities · 19 fire depts
Total incidents
301
3,220 across 5 years
Building fires
74
37 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.4M structure · $401K contents
Casualties
2 / 0
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

301
Total Incidents
Building fires 74 24.6%
Power line down 42 14.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 10.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 7.3%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 19 6.3%
All other categories 113 37.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 47
Feb 25
Mar 58
Apr 33
May 40
Jun 26
Jul 33
Aug 20
Sep 16
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

3,220 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 740
2022 739
2023 687
2024 753
2025 301
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 74 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
66%
38
Cause undetermined
7%
4
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
4
Under investigation
10%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
5
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wayne County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Buckingham Township Building fires Major
2 $600,000 Buckingham Township Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Star Building fires Significant
4 $5,000 Lake Ariel Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $3,000 Lakeville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
6.87
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
1.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
1.69
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
45.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
45.7
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42127.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

19 departments report from this county.

Lake Ariel FD
Lake Ariel
FDID 64001 59 incidents 15 vol
GreeneDreher Volunteer Fire A
Newfoundland
FDID 64023 42 incidents
Honesdale Fire Department
Honesdale
FDID 64013 39 incidents 15 vol
Equinunk FD
Equinunk
FDID 64065 30 incidents 1 vol
Lakeville FD
Lakeville
FDID 64018 26 incidents 1 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in PA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
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

About this data

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.