In 2025, fire departments serving Beaver Falls responded to 182 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $185K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,403 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 303 | — | |
| 2022 | 252 | -16.8% | |
| 2023 | 307 | +21.8% | |
| 2024 | 359 | +16.9% | |
| 2025 | 182 | -49.3% |
For the 49 building fires Beaver Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 358 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 | 102 | 28.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 38 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 35 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Other | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 95 | 26.5% |
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 Beaver Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 29.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 57 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 35 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 18 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beaver Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $185,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beaver Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,745 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 36.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Beaver Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beaver Falls.
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.