In 2025, fire departments serving Harrisburg responded to 820 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,861 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 742 | — | |
| 2022 | 760 | +2.4% | |
| 2023 | 847 | +11.4% | |
| 2024 | 692 | -18.3% | |
| 2025 | 820 | +18.5% |
For the 143 building fires Harrisburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,106 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 | 180 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 161 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 155 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 98 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 58 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 48 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 44 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 29 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 25 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 270 | 24.4% |
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 Harrisburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 640 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 98 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 55 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 50 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 41 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 17 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 98 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harrisburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 53% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $77,928 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harrisburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
61 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 24 | |
| 40-49 | 9 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,349 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 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 193 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 109 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 74 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 72 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 54 | 36.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Harrisburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Harrisburg.
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.