In 2025, fire departments serving West Leechburg responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | +66.7% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | — |
* Well below West Leechburg's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires West Leechburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.7% |
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 West Leechburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 6.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Leechburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,206 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 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 31.0 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 | 15656 | 67 |
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of West Leechburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Leechburg.
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.