In 2025, fire departments serving Braddock Hills responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
140 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | +10.5% | |
| 2024 | 27 | -35.7% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -37.0% |
* Well below Braddock Hills'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.
For the 1 building fires Braddock Hills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 7 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 28.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Office | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Braddock Hills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 72.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Match | 1 | 4.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Braddock Hills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,760 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 32.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Braddock Hills. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.