ZIP 19701 recorded 365 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,942 across 2021–2025. Primary county: New Castle County, DE. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,942 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 345 | |
| 2022 | 416 | |
| 2023 | 372 | |
| 2024 | 444 | |
| 2025 | 365 |
Jan peaks. May dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 19701 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 641 | 33.0% | |
| 2 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 233 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 141 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 101 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Passenger vehicle fire | 100 | 5.1% |
For the 140 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 19701 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 130 | 24.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 114 | 21.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 40 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 140 | 26.7% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 288 | 55.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 107 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 19 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 53 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 19701 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 176% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | 2025 | Significant |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 3 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | 2022 | Significant |
| 4 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | 2024 | Significant |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2021 | Significant |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2021 | Significant |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2021 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 19701.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bear | 1,852 | |
| 2 | Newark | 55 | |
| 3 | New Castle | 6 | |
| 4 | Middletown | 3 | |
| 5 | Claymont | 2 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,942 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.