In 2025, fire departments serving Pittsburgh responded to 1,237 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 66% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,912 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.1M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,333 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,717 | -18.5% | |
| 2023 | 1,250 | -54.0% | |
| 2024 | 1,375 | +10.0% | |
| 2025 | 1,237 | -10.0% |
For the 153 building fires Pittsburgh departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 693 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 | 118 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 115 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 91 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 62 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 27 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 20 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 18 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 180 | 26.0% |
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 Pittsburgh mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 307 | 44.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 85 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 41 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 38 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 95 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pittsburgh departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 62% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,018,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $780,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $338,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $296,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $244,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $219,565 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pittsburgh sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
109 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 26 | |
| 30-39 | 31 | |
| 40-49 | 18 | |
| 50-59 | 13 | |
| 60-69 | 10 | |
| 70-79 | 6 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,080 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 30 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 48.9 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.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pittsburgh.
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.