In 2025, fire departments serving Braddock responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K 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 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
385 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $15K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 76 | — | |
| 2022 | 91 | +19.7% | |
| 2023 | 99 | +8.8% | |
| 2024 | 68 | -31.3% | |
| 2025 | 51 | -25.0% |
For the 24 building fires Braddock departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | Outside area, other | 19 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 21.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 18.5% |
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 Braddock mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Braddock departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,858 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,635 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Braddock sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,671 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 30 | 35.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15104 | 385 |
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Braddock. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Braddock.
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.