In 2025, fire departments serving Halifax responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
97 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | +35.7% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | — |
* Well below Halifax'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 6 building fires Halifax departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Wall assembly | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Halifax mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Halifax sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,937 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 935 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 424 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 282 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 184 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 109 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 74 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 72 | 38.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Halifax. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Halifax.
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.