In 2025, fire departments serving Athens responded to 306 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,865 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 349 | — | |
| 2022 | 383 | +9.7% | |
| 2023 | 479 | +25.1% | |
| 2024 | 348 | -27.3% | |
| 2025 | 306 | -12.1% |
For the 72 building fires Athens departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 611 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 285 | 46.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 56 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 31 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 102 | 16.7% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Athens mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 227 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 176 | 28.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 47 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 36 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 36 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 8 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Athens departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Athens sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,362 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 355 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 197 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 171 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 170 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 146 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 143 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 137 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 128 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 128 | 46.5 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Athens. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.