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2025 County Report

Fires in McKean County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving McKean County responded to 190 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

34,020 residents FIPS 42083 87 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
190
2,002 across 5 years
Building fires
41
19 wildland
Property loss
$2.3M
$1.2M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 59% of all calls.

190
Total Incidents
Building fires 41 21.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 30 15.8%
Power line down 19 10.0%
Hazardous condition, other 11 5.8%
Aircraft standby 11 5.8%
All other categories 78 41.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in McKean County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 12
Feb 4
Mar 35
Apr 21
May 24
Jun 16
Jul 19
Aug 25
Sep 20
Oct 5
Nov 9
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in McKean County

2,002 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 407
2022 512
2023 571
2024 322
2025 190
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
23
Cause undetermined
4%
2
Intentional / arson
15%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
6
Under investigation
13%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
2
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in McKean County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Kane Building fires Major
2 $110,000 BRADFORD Building fires Significant
3 $80,000 Bradford Building fires Significant
4 $1,000 Bradford Building fires Significant
5 $500 Bradford Building fires Significant
06 How McKean County compares

McKean County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.58
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McKean County
5.58
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
1.21
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McKean County
1.21
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
29.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
McKean County
29.4
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in McKean County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42083.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in McKean County

14 departments report from this county.

Bradford Fire Department
Bradford
FDID 42001 42 incidents 22 paid
Smethport Fire Department
Smethport
FDID 42002 21 incidents 43 vol
DERRICK CITY FIRE DEPT STA11
DERRICK CITY
FDID 42011 21 incidents 20 vol
BTVFD Interstate Station
Bradford
FDID 42015 15 incidents 44 vol
Kane Fire Department
Kane
FDID 42005 13 incidents 100 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.