In 2025, fire departments serving Swissvale responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $83K 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 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
728 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $84K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 165 | +28.9% | |
| 2023 | 188 | +13.9% | |
| 2024 | 149 | -20.7% | |
| 2025 | 98 | -34.2% |
For the 38 building fires Swissvale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 178 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 | 80 | 44.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 14.6% |
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 Swissvale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 35 | 19.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Swissvale departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $83,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Swissvale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,683 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 30 | 36.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15218 | 728 |
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Swissvale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Swissvale.
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.