In 2025, fire departments serving Hazleton responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K 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 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
70 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $219K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | +117.6% |
* Well below Hazleton'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 12 building fires Hazleton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | Undetermined | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 23.8% |
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 Hazleton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hazleton departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hazleton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,120 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 4.8 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 | 50641 | 70 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Hazleton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.