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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Archbald, Pennsylvania

In 2025, fire departments serving Archbald responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B Peak yr 2023 Lackawanna County 7,316 residents 0 reporting departments 418 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Archbald's departments reported 47 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 84 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
47
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
6
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

47
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 9 19.1%
Cooking fire, confined to container 7 14.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 7 14.9%
Building fires 6 12.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 10.6%
All other categories 13 27.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 12
Feb 0
Mar 4
Apr 1
May 3
Jun 0
Jul 17
Aug 1
Sep 9
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Archbald

418 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 93 —
2022 87 -6.5%
2023 108 +24.1%
2024 83 -23.1%
2025* 47 —

* Well below Archbald's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires Archbald departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
67%
8
Cause undetermined
17%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
1
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Archbald?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 120 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 originCountShare 
1 Cooking area, kitchen 23 19.2%
2 Wildland, woods 21 17.5%
3 Outside area, other 15 12.5%
4 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 13 10.8%
5 Undetermined 13 10.8%
6 Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge 3 2.5%
7 Laundry area, wash house (laundry) 3 2.5%
8 Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste 3 2.5%
9 Wall surface: exterior 3 2.5%
10 Roof surface: exterior 3 2.5%
11 All other areas 20 16.7%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

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 Archbald mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 61 50.8%
2 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 9 7.5%
3 Heat source: other 8 6.7%
4 Hot or smoldering object, other 7 5.8%
5 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 6 5.0%
6 Cigarette 6 5.0%
7 Heat from powered equipment, other 5 4.2%
8 Arcing 5 4.2%
9 Hot ember or ash 3 2.5%
10 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 3 2.5%
11 All other sources 7 5.8%
05 How Archbald compares

Archbald vs Pennsylvania vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Archbald sits below the national average for incidents per resident.

6.42
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Archbald
6.42
PA avg
6.49
US avg
7.48
0.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Archbald
0.82
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Archbald
0
PA avg
6.3
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Archbald

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,838 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2016 Arson/incendiarism 7,949 27.7 mi
2004 Arson/incendiarism 2,265 25.9 mi
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 2,126 27.0 mi
2008 Arson/incendiarism 995 24.7 mi
2020 Arson/incendiarism 812 27.1 mi
1995 Recreation and ceremony 750 42.1 mi
2015 Arson/incendiarism 674 27.5 mi
2016 Arson/incendiarism 647 28.7 mi
1999 Arson/incendiarism 623 41.7 mi
2014 Arson/incendiarism 615 24.7 mi
1994 Smoking 500 45.9 mi
2010 Arson/incendiarism 398 12.5 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Archbald do fires concentrate?

Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 18403 417
2 18433 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Archbald

Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Archbald. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

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.