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2025 County Report

Fires in Northumberland County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Northumberland County responded to 734 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

90,549 residents FIPS 42097 107 cities · 17 fire depts
Total incidents
734
6,086 across 5 years
Building fires
209
132 wildland
Property loss
$236K
$184K structure · $52K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

734
Total Incidents
Building fires 209 28.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 74 10.1%
Power line down 56 7.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 42 5.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 32 4.4%
All other categories 321 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Northumberland County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 103
Feb 60
Mar 181
Apr 98
May 62
Jun 33
Jul 75
Aug 70
Sep 42
Oct 0
Nov 5
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Northumberland County

6,086 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,222
2022 1,444
2023 1,428
2024 1,258
2025 734
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 209 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
126
Cause undetermined
13%
25
Intentional / arson
3%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
27
Under investigation
6%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
4
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $184K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Northumberland County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Watsontown Building fires Significant
2 $31,000 Watsontown Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $3,000 Watsontown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Northumberland County compares

Northumberland County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Northumberland County
8.11
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
2.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Northumberland County
2.31
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Northumberland County
0
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Northumberland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Northumberland County

17 departments report from this county.

Shamokin Fire Bureau
Shamokin
FDID 49090 94 incidents 70 vol
Northumberland Fire Department
Northumberland
FDID 49073 61 incidents 40 vol
Elysburg Fire Co
Elysburg
FDID 49170 47 incidents
Chief 501
Sunbury
FDID 49501 37 incidents
Upper Augusta
Sunbury
FDID 49072 33 incidents 30 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.