In 2025, fire departments serving Hazleton responded to 321 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,447 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $785K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 283 | — | |
| 2022 | 305 | +7.8% | |
| 2023 | 265 | -13.1% | |
| 2024 | 273 | +3.0% | |
| 2025 | 321 | +17.6% |
For the 19 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 96 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 | 23 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 8 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 19.8% |
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 | Undetermined | 51 | 53.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hazleton departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | 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.
7 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,899 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 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,126 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 935 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 42.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 45.2 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 Hazleton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hazleton.
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.