In 2025, fire departments serving Northampton responded to 184 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 73% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $867K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 279 | — | |
| 2022 | 344 | +23.3% | |
| 2023 | 262 | -23.8% | |
| 2024 | 299 | +14.1% | |
| 2025 | 184 | -38.5% |
For the 77 building fires Northampton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 104 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 | 23 | 22.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 38.5% |
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 Northampton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 33.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 20.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 14 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northampton departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northampton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,786 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,225 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 28.4 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 Northampton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Northampton.
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.