In 2025, fire departments serving Canonsburg responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $324K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
588 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 108 | — | |
| 2022 | 131 | +21.3% | |
| 2023 | 105 | -19.8% | |
| 2024 | 171 | +62.9% | |
| 2025 | 73 | -57.3% |
For the 8 building fires Canonsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 140 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 | 24 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 27.9% |
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 Canonsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 26 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Match | 12 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Canonsburg departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $323,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $7,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canonsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,376 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 30 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 34.5 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 Canonsburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Canonsburg.
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.