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2025 County Report

Fires in Somerset County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Somerset County responded to 460 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

48,037 residents FIPS 42111 164 cities · 25 fire depts
Total incidents
460
4,292 across 5 years
Building fires
122
35 wildland
Property loss
$672K
$621K structure · $51K 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 58% of all calls.

460
Total Incidents
Building fires 122 26.5%
Power line down 63 13.7%
Hazardous condition, other 30 6.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 28 6.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 23 5.0%
All other categories 194 42.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Somerset County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 60
Feb 44
Mar 110
Apr 44
May 49
Jun 27
Jul 32
Aug 21
Sep 37
Oct 13
Nov 23
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Somerset County

4,292 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 785
2022 1,110
2023 1,050
2024 887
2025 460
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 122 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
74%
62
Cause undetermined
4%
3
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
11
Under investigation
5%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $615K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Somerset County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 SOMERSET Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $75,000 Meyersdale Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 STOYSTOWN Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 ROCKWOOD Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 SOMERSET Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
6 $25,000 SOMERSET Building fires Significant
7 $25,000 SOMERSET Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $20,000 HIDDEN VALLEY Building fires Significant
9 $10,000 SOMERSET Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 SOMERSET Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Somerset County compares

Somerset County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.58
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Somerset County
9.58
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
2.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Somerset County
2.54
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Somerset County
0
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Somerset County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42111.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Somerset County

25 departments report from this county.

Somerset Volunteer Fire Depart
Somerset
FDID 56601 127 incidents 109 vol
Scalp Level Paint Vol Fire
Windber
FDID 56616 39 incidents 25 vol
New Centerville Rural Vol Fir
Rockwood
FDID 56622 35 incidents 55 vol
JEROME VOL FIRE DEPT
JEROME
FDID 56631 27 incidents 30 vol
Stoystown Volunteer Fire Compa
STOYSTOWN
FDID 56604 19 incidents 53 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.