In 2025, fire departments serving Altoona responded to 363 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,536 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.3M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 590 | — | |
| 2022 | 614 | +4.1% | |
| 2023 | 590 | -3.9% | |
| 2024 | 379 | -35.8% | |
| 2025 | 363 | -4.2% |
For the 19 building fires Altoona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 656 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 159 | 24.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 128 | 19.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 31 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 28 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 26 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 20 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 180 | 27.4% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Altoona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 252 | 38.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 99 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 42 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 28 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 27 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 18 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 92 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Altoona departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Altoona sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
53 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 18 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 8 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,779 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 888 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 424 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 352 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 345 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 300 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 297 | 2.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 295 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 233 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 39.4 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Altoona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Altoona.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.