In 2025, fire departments serving State College responded to 221 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 54% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,018 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 168 | — | |
| 2022 | 196 | +16.7% | |
| 2023 | 212 | +8.2% | |
| 2024 | 221 | +4.2% | |
| 2025 | 221 | +0.0% |
For the 10 building fires State College departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 414 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 | 160 | 38.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 59 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 80 | 19.3% |
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 State College mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 140 | 33.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 79 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 58 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 31 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 40 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by State College departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $12,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. State College sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,286 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,329 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 917 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 688 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 605 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 424 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 352 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 352 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 348 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 345 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 300 | 40.8 mi |
Top 4 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 State College. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in State College.
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.