Home› Pennsylvania› Bloomsburg
2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

In 2025, fire departments serving Bloomsburg responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B+ Peak yr 2022 Columbia County 12,836 residents 5 reporting departments 620 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Bloomsburg's departments reported 49 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 124 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
49
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?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

49
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 9 18.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 16.3%
Building fires 6 12.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 8.2%
Cooking fire, confined to container 3 6.1%
All other categories 19 38.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 1
Feb 7
Mar 12
Apr 10
May 5
Jun 6
Jul 4
Aug 3
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Bloomsburg

620 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $675K cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 166 —
2022 171 +3.0%
2023 125 -26.9%
2024 109 -12.8%
2025* 49 —

* Well below Bloomsburg'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 Bloomsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
73%
8
Cause undetermined
9%
1
Intentional / arson
9%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Bloomsburg?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 155 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 38 24.5%
2 Outside area, other 27 17.4%
3 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 13 8.4%
4 Wildland, woods 12 7.7%
5 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 8 5.2%
6 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 6 3.9%
7 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 4 2.6%
8 Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste 4 2.6%
9 Substructure area or space, crawl space 4 2.6%
10 Undetermined 4 2.6%
11 All other areas 35 22.6%
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 Bloomsburg mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Arcing 35 22.6%
2 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 29 18.7%
3 Undetermined 21 13.5%
4 Heat from powered equipment, other 12 7.7%
5 Hot ember or ash 10 6.5%
6 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 8 5.2%
7 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 7 4.5%
8 Hot or smoldering object, other 5 3.2%
9 Fireworks 5 3.2%
10 Heat source: other 4 2.6%
11 All other sources 19 12.3%
05 How Bloomsburg compares

Bloomsburg vs Pennsylvania vs the nation

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

3.82
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bloomsburg
3.82
PA avg
6.49
US avg
7.48
0.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bloomsburg
0.47
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bloomsburg
0
PA avg
6.3
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Bloomsburg

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,206 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2009 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 2,126 33.6 mi
2006 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 935 39.3 mi
2015 Equipment and vehicle use 848 42.7 mi
2015 Arson/incendiarism 674 41.1 mi
2010 Arson/incendiarism 398 47.5 mi
2010 Arson/incendiarism 336 31.1 mi
2014 Arson/incendiarism 328 33.4 mi
2020 Railroad operations and maintenance 308 37.5 mi
2017 Arson/incendiarism 282 18.8 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 263 18.3 mi
2005 Arson/incendiarism 258 30.5 mi
2002 Arson/incendiarism 257 30.4 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Bloomsburg do fires concentrate?

Top 5 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 17815 615
2 18631 2
3 18601 1
4 18603 1
5 18660 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Bloomsburg

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

06 First responders

Who responds in Bloomsburg?

5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bloomsburg.

Bloomsburg Fire Department
911 Market ST
FDID 19005Volunteer
Buckhorn Fire Company No 1
FDID 19160Volunteer
Espy Fire Company No 1
300Tenny Street
FDID 19180Volunteer
West End Fire Company
FDID 19130Volunteer
North Mountain
FDID 19260Volunteer
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.