In 2025, fire departments serving Meadville responded to 209 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,084 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $749K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 176 | — | |
| 2022 | 207 | +17.6% | |
| 2023 | 243 | +17.4% | |
| 2024 | 249 | +2.5% | |
| 2025 | 209 | -16.1% |
For the 37 building fires Meadville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 152 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 23 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 13 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 27.0% |
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 Meadville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 45 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Match | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 7.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Meadville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Meadville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,165 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 780 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 85 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 59 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | 33 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 33 | 42.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Meadville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Meadville.
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.