In 2025, fire departments serving New Kensington responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 70% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
762 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $169K cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 123 | — | |
| 2022 | 166 | +35.0% | |
| 2023 | 149 | -10.2% | |
| 2024 | 165 | +10.7% | |
| 2025 | 159 | -3.6% |
For the 38 building fires New Kensington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 164 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 | Outside area, other | 34 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 25.6% |
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 New Kensington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 13 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Candle | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Kensington departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Kensington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,905 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 34.5 mi |
Top 3 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 New Kensington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Kensington.
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.