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2025 County Report

Fires in Bedford County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Bedford County responded to 265 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

33,532 residents FIPS 42009 106 cities · 39 fire depts
Total incidents
265
2,598 across 5 years
Building fires
80
68 wildland
Property loss
$310K
$210K structure · $100K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

265
Total Incidents
Building fires 80 30.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 40 15.1%
Power line down 25 9.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 24 9.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 20 7.5%
All other categories 76 28.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bedford County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 17
Feb 26
Mar 71
Apr 22
May 32
Jun 14
Jul 22
Aug 23
Sep 21
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bedford County

2,598 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 493
2022 589
2023 695
2024 556
2025 265
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 80 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
69%
46
Cause undetermined
6%
4
Intentional / arson
3%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
8
Under investigation
10%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $210K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bedford County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 FULTON CO Building fires Significant
2 $10,000 Bedford Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Bedford County compares

Bedford County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.9
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bedford County
7.9
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
2.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bedford County
2.39
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bedford County
0
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bedford County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42009.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bedford County

39 departments report from this county.

East Whiteland Vol Fire Assoc
MALVERN
FDID 15005 213 incidents 1 vol
Phoenix Fire Company
Phoenixville
FDID 15065 118 incidents 1 vol
North Shenango Volunteer Fire
Espyville
FDID 20017 81 incidents 25 vol
West Grove Fire Company
West Grove
FDID 15022 62 incidents 1 vol
Berwyn Fire Company
Berwyn
FDID 15002 60 incidents 1 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in PA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Hopewell 2012 NPS 812
2 Blue Mountain 2024 NPS 577
3 River Road 2023 USFS 430
4 SNYDER 1999 NPS 374
5 Town Line Church 1984 USFS 207
6 Little Round Top Munshower 2021 NPS 79
7 Sugar Bay 2023 USFS 62
8 Spring 2003 USFS 53
9 Salmon Creek 2010 USFS 48
10 BELLTOWN 2011 USFS 42

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.