Home› Counties› PA› Forest County
2025 County Report

Fires in Forest County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Forest County responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents.

7,970 residents FIPS 42053 44 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
44
869 across 5 years
Building fires
15
5 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 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 77% of all calls.

44
Total Incidents
Building fires 15 34.1%
Power line down 10 22.7%
Hazardous condition, other 5 11.4%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 2 4.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 4.5%
All other categories 10 22.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Forest County?

Apr peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 7
Feb 2
Mar 8
Apr 11
May 3
Jun 1
Jul 3
Aug 1
Sep 8
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Forest County

869 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 209
2022 234
2023 210
2024 172
2025 44
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
7
Cause undetermined
21%
3
Intentional / arson
7%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
21%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
06 How Forest County compares

Forest County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.52
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Forest County
5.52
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
1.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Forest County
1.88
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Forest County
0
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Forest County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42053.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Forest County

1 departments report from this county.

West Hickory Volunteer Fire De
West Hickory
FDID 27029 5 incidents 15 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.