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2025 County Report

Fires in Venango County, PA

In 2025, fire departments serving Venango County responded to 312 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $168K property loss.

33,047 residents FIPS 42121 95 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
312
3,092 across 5 years
Building fires
63
44 wildland
Property loss
$338K
$242K structure · $96K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 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 52% of all calls.

312
Total Incidents
Building fires 63 20.2%
Hazardous condition, other 27 8.7%
Power line down 27 8.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 23 7.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 7.1%
All other categories 150 48.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Venango County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 27
Mar 41
Apr 36
May 30
Jun 22
Jul 53
Aug 37
Sep 40
Oct 4
Nov 4
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Venango County

3,092 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 689
2022 859
2023 741
2024 491
2025 312
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 63 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
58
Cause undetermined
5%
4
Intentional / arson
6%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
12
Under investigation
8%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $242K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Venango County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $168,396 Franklin Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Oil City Building fires Significant
4 $3,000 Franklin Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
5 $2,800 Oil City Building fires Significant
6 $2,500 Franklin Building fires Significant
7 $2,400 Oil City Building fires Significant
8 $1,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
9 $1,000 Oil City Building fires Significant
10 $1,000 Oil City Building fires Significant
06 How Venango County compares

Venango County vs PA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Venango County
9.44
PA avg
6.48
US avg
7.15
1.91
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Venango County
1.91
PA avg
1.39
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Venango County
0
PA avg
6.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Venango County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 42121.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Venango County

13 departments report from this county.

Franklin Fire Dept
Franklin
FDID 61009 77 incidents 6 paid
Polk FireRescue Inc
POLK
FDID 61017 41 incidents 33 vol
Seneca Vol Fire Dept
Seneca
FDID 61024 29 incidents 50 vol
Oil City Fire Dept Station1
Oil City
FDID 61014 28 incidents 15 paid
Oakland Township Vol Fire Depa
Cooperstown
FDID 61013 24 incidents
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.