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2025 State Fire Report

Fires in Pennsylvania

In 2025, fire departments across Pennsylvania responded to 82,863 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Hopewell wildfire that burned 812 acres in 2012.

12,787,749 residents 67 counties 7,695 reporting cities

National context

Where Pennsylvania sits

Pennsylvania ranks #42 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.

<100k100k+1M+5M+15M+ None on record

Total acres burned (NIFC perimeter history)

Total incidents

82,863

684,284 across 5 years

Building fires

17,757

21.4% of all incidents

Wildland fires

6,805

10 historical perimeters on record

Casualties

79 / 378

79 civ deaths · 144 civ inj · 234 ff inj

01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen in Pennsylvania?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 51% of all calls.

82,863

Total Incidents

Building fires 17,757 21.4%

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8,405 10.1%

Power line down 7,000 8.4%

Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 5,103 6.2%

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4,039 4.9%

All other categories 40,559 48.9%

02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)

Jan 7,429

Feb 6,877

Mar 11,969

Apr 8,855

May 8,246

Jun 6,326

Jul 8,762

Aug 6,681

Sep 7,419

Oct 3,885

Nov 4,138

Dec 2,276

03 Smoothed seasonality

Average monthly fires 2021–2025

5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Sep dips.

Jan 57,183

Feb 51,827

Mar 72,179

Apr 65,209

May 54,533

Jun 59,805

Jul 63,296

Aug 56,206

Sep 47,406

Oct 48,826

Nov 55,530

Dec 52,284

04 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pennsylvania

684,284 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.

Year	Incidents
2021	146,774
2022	158,424
2023	158,521
2024	137,702
2025	82,863

05 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires in Pennsylvania?

For the 17,757 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional

50%

7,137

Cause undetermined

14%

2,000

Intentional / arson

1,250

Equipment / heat source failure

15%

2,129

Under investigation

10%

1,428

Act of nature (lightning)

398

5b Causes by category

Top ignition causes in Pennsylvania

Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.

#	Cause	Incidents	FOD vs NFIRS	Acres
1	Undetermined / missing	34,947	1,389 / 33,558	13,289
2	Equipment & vehicle use	24,274	1,091 / 23,183	4,807
3	Arson / incendiarism	13,948	2,677 / 11,271	36,625
4	Debris & open burning	5,439	5,439 / 0	12,656
5	Natural (lightning)	4,080	173 / 3,907	1,422
6	Recreation & ceremony	671	671 / 0	2,828
7	Other causes	625	40 / 585	61
8	Railroad operations	490	490 / 0	3,739
9	Power generation / utility	329	329 / 0	757
10	Misuse of fire by a minor	269	269 / 0	491
11	Smoking	239	239 / 0	1,144
12	Fireworks	53	53 / 0	58

5c Topics

Cross-cutting fire topics in Pennsylvania

Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.

#	Topic	Incidents	Loss	Deaths
1	Building fires	232,374	$662.2M	839
2	Electrical / wiring	114,808	$450K	0
3	Gas leaks	104,223	$64K	0
4	Outdoor fires	94,262	$3.7M	10
5	Wildland fires	58,094	$3.3M	10
6	Cooking-related	41,017	$682K	0
7	Vehicle fires	38,353	$57.4M	73
8	Rubbish / refuse	29,364	$606K	0
9	Arson	10,238	$2.3M	10

06 The biggest fires

10 fires · $20.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 18% of Pennsylvania's total.

#	Property loss	City	Type	Severity
1	$5,000,000	ABINGTON	Building fires	Catastrophic
2	$4,000,000	Clairton	Fires in structures other than in a building	Major
3	$2,000,000	Saegertown	Building fires	Major
4	$1,500,000	Pittsburgh	Building fires	Major
5	$1,500,000	FannettTownship of	Building fires	Major
6	$1,500,000	Coopersburg	Building fires	Major
7	$1,500,000	BrownTownship of	Building fires	Major
8	$1,273,125	Leetsdale	Building fires	Major
9	$1,200,000	Bridgeport	Building fires	Major
10	$1,172,370	TRAPPE BOROUGH	Building fires	Major

07 How Pennsylvania compares

Pennsylvania vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare Pennsylvania apples-to-apples to the national average.

6.48

Incidents per 1,000 residents

6.48

US avg

7.48

1.39

Building fires per 1,000 residents

1.39

US avg

0.85

6.2

Civilian fire deaths per million

6.2

US avg

5.9

08 Cities

Top cities in Pennsylvania

12 largest reporting cities by population.

Philadelphia B+

10,708 incidents 819 building $0 loss

Pittsburgh B+

1,237 incidents 153 building $7.4M loss

Allentown B-

432 incidents 51 building $35K loss

Erie A-

299 incidents 47 building $0 loss

Reading C+

1,002 incidents 81 building $1.7M loss

Upper Darby A-

377 incidents 72 building $1.7M loss

Bethlehem B

449 incidents 48 building $383K loss

Bensalem A-

238 incidents 44 building $95K loss

Abington A+

37 incidents 13 building $5.1M loss

Lancaster C+

386 incidents 73 building $1.2M loss

Bristol A

113 incidents 29 building $0 loss

Levittown A

226 incidents 96 building $0 loss

09 Counties

Top counties in Pennsylvania

Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.

#	County	Incidents	Population
1	Philadelphia County	10,696	1,593,208
2	Allegheny County	8,734	1,247,205
3	Montgomery County	4,932	1,081,987
4	Delaware County	4,096	625,967
5	Westmoreland County	4,080	300,946
6	Bucks County	3,795	702,212
7	Berks County	3,418	476,310
8	York County	2,963	415,907
9	Northampton County	2,608	301,276
10	Lancaster County	2,581	510,312

10 Per-capita

Highest fire rates by county

Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.

#	County	Inc / 1k	Incidents	Population
1	Westmoreland County	13.56	4,080	300,946
2	Armstrong County	13.51	736	54,459
3	Cambria County	11.72	1,226	104,589
4	Mercer County	11.35	950	83,701
5	Adams County	11.34	649	57,230
6	Lawrence County	9.50	703	73,999
7	Butler County	9.38	1,270	135,382
8	Fayette County	9.17	1,183	129,021
9	Northampton County	8.66	2,608	301,276
10	Luzerne County	8.54	2,356	275,857

11 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pennsylvania

By incident count in 2025.

Philadelphia Fire Dept

—

FDID 51001 10,701 incidents

City of Reading

Reading

FDID 06777 668 incidents 152 paid

Station 3

Greensburg

FDID 65079 666 incidents 320 vol

Harrisburg City Station 1

Harrisburg

FDID 22001 462 incidents 100 paid

Bureau of Fire

Chester

FDID 23081 462 incidents 65 paid

12 Largest fires on record

Top 10 wildfires in Pennsylvania history

By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.

#	Name	Year	Agency	Acres
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

13 Decade by decade

Wildfire perimeters in Pennsylvania, by decade

56 perimeters and 3,163 acres recorded since 1900.

Decade	Fires	Acres
1980s	2	227
1990s	3	428
2000s	14	253
2010s	13	1,013
2020s	24	1,242

14 Cause shift over time

How wildfire causes have shifted in Pennsylvania

FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.

Decade	Total fires	Share by cause
1990s	150
2000s	4,734
2010s	6,464
2020s	1,513

Debris and open burning Arson/incendiarism Missing data/not specified/undetermined Equipment and vehicle use Recreation and ceremony Railroad operations and maintenance Power generation/transmission/distribution Other

15 Wildfire seasonality

When wildfires ignite in Pennsylvania

FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 12,861 ignitions total.

Jan 109

Feb 488

Mar 2,640

Apr 5,270

May 1,522

Jun 264

Jul 440

Aug 370

Sep 342

Oct 358

Nov 984

Dec 74

16 Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Pennsylvania

4,183 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.

Age	Count
0-9	204
10-19	271
20-29	765
30-39	805
40-49	550
50-59	583
60-69	455
70-79	272
80+	181

Civilian vs firefighter

Civilian 2,172 FF 2,011

Gender

M 3,167 F 1,016 Unk 0

Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)

1,480

649

592

402

948

About this data

State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.