In 2025, fire departments serving Tarentum responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $18K 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 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
573 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $18K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 88 | — | |
| 2022 | 141 | +60.2% | |
| 2023 | 123 | -12.8% | |
| 2024 | 133 | +8.1% | |
| 2025 | 88 | -33.8% |
For the 23 building fires Tarentum departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 19 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 10 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 13.3% |
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 Tarentum mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tarentum departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $18,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tarentum sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,221 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 44.7 mi |
Top 7 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 Tarentum. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tarentum.
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.