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2025 County Report

Fires in Cumberland County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Cumberland County responded to 1,714 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $470K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

267,315 residents FIPS 42041 116 cities · 21 fire depts
Total incidents
1,714
12,976 across 5 years
Building fires
326
144 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$1.8M structure · $827K contents
Casualties
1 / 5
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

1,714
Total Incidents
Building fires 326 19.0%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 280 16.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 266 15.5%
Power line down 78 4.6%
Cooking fire, confined to container 75 4.4%
All other categories 689 40.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cumberland County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 214
Feb 148
Mar 214
Apr 188
May 168
Jun 100
Jul 190
Aug 108
Sep 182
Oct 72
Nov 91
Dec 39
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cumberland County

12,976 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,600
2022 2,760
2023 3,047
2024 2,855
2025 1,714
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 326 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
137
Cause undetermined
9%
21
Intentional / arson
4%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
41
Under investigation
8%
18
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cumberland County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $470,000 New Cumberland Building fires Major
2 $200,000 NEW CUMBERLAND Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 East PennsboroTown Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $150,000 Mechanicsburg Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $123,700 NEWVILLE Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Shippensburg Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $75,000 Shippensburg Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $50,000 East PennsboroTown Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 East PennsboroTown Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 East PennsboroTown Building fires Significant
06 How Cumberland County compares

Cumberland County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.41
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cumberland County
6.41
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
1.22
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cumberland County
1.22
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
3.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cumberland County
3.7
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cumberland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42041.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cumberland County

21 departments report from this county.

New Kingstown Fire Co
New Kingstown
FDID 21033 380 incidents 50 vol
Upper Allen Fire Department
Mechanicsburg
FDID 21023 134 incidents 47 vol
Lower Allen Fire Co
Camp Hill
FDID 21012 119 incidents 50 vol
New Cumberland Fire Department
New Cumberland
FDID 21010 103 incidents 100 vol
Silver Spring Community Fire C
Mechanicsburg
FDID 21031 78 incidents 35 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.