In 2025, fire departments serving Johnstown responded to 767 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,753 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 16 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 736 | — | |
| 2022 | 739 | +0.4% | |
| 2023 | 704 | -4.7% | |
| 2024 | 807 | +14.6% | |
| 2025 | 767 | -5.0% |
For the 90 building fires Johnstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 682 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 196 | 28.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 70 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 53 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 43 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 36 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 17 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 171 | 25.1% |
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 Johnstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 194 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 99 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 65 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 55 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 53 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 33 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 24 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 19 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 96 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Johnstown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% 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 | $165,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Johnstown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
75 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 5 | |
| 20-29 | 12 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 17 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 8 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 6 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,043 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 888 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 755 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 480 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 345 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 300 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 297 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 295 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 38.8 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 Johnstown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Johnstown.
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.