ZIP 19709 recorded 472 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 2,308 across 2021–2025. Primary county: New Castle County, DE. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
2,308 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 376 | |
| 2022 | 412 | |
| 2023 | 455 | |
| 2024 | 593 | |
| 2025 | 472 |
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 19709 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 611 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 590 | 25.6% | |
| 3 | Passenger vehicle fire | 126 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 89 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Power line down | 85 | 3.7% |
For the 116 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 19709 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 125 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 61 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 57 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Other | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 77 | 17.9% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 299 | 69.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 32 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 19709 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 313% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 2 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | 2025 | Significant |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 8 | $5,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | 2024 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 19709.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middletown | 2,218 | |
| 2 | New Castle | 28 | |
| 3 | Bear | 5 | |
| 4 | Newark | 4 | |
| 5 | Townsend | 3 |
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 — 2,308 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.