In 2025, fire departments serving Williamsport responded to 247 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,523 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 260 | — | |
| 2022 | 328 | +26.2% | |
| 2023 | 331 | +0.9% | |
| 2024 | 357 | +7.9% | |
| 2025 | 247 | -30.8% |
For the 31 building fires Williamsport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 375 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 | 78 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 74 | 19.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 17 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 15 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 110 | 29.3% |
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 Williamsport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 30.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 27 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 24 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Williamsport departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Williamsport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
26 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 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,432 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,000 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,329 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 917 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 688 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 605 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 424 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 348 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 161 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 135 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 129 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 120 | 45.2 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 Williamsport. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Williamsport.
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.