In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson 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 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
72 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +190.9% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | +33.3% |
* Well below Jefferson'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 5 building fires Jefferson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Jefferson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 87.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jefferson sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,871 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 39 | 49.1 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 Jefferson. 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.