In 2025, fire departments serving Catasauqua responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 67% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
382 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.8M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 95 | — | |
| 2022 | 81 | -14.7% | |
| 2023 | 68 | -16.0% | |
| 2024 | 78 | +14.7% | |
| 2025 | 60 | -23.1% |
For the 16 building fires Catasauqua departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 73 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 | 16 | 21.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 24.7% |
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 Catasauqua mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 41.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 4.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Catasauqua departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Catasauqua sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,800 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,126 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 35.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 43.9 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 Catasauqua. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Catasauqua.
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.