ZIP 18603 recorded 111 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,070 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Columbia County, PA.
1,070 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 206 | |
| 2022 | 276 | |
| 2023 | 283 | |
| 2024 | 194 | |
| 2025 | 111 |
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 18603 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 350 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 203 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 58 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Power line down | 44 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 36 | 3.4% |
For the 19 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 18603 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 177 | 47.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 40 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 19 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 60 | 16.0% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 266 | 71.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 24 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 31 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 18603 across 2021–2025. These 5 fires alone account for 304% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 2 | $65,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 5 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 18603.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berwick | 747 | |
| 2 | Briar Creek | 56 | |
| 3 | Salem | 3 | |
| 4 | Bloomsburg | 1 | |
| 5 | Catawissa | 1 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luzerne County | PA | 1.00 | FIPS 42079 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,070 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.