In 2025, fire departments serving Bowling Green responded to 190 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
993 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 180 | — | |
| 2022 | 226 | +25.6% | |
| 2023 | 190 | -15.9% | |
| 2024 | 207 | +8.9% | |
| 2025 | 190 | -8.2% |
For the 18 building fires Bowling Green departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 272 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 14.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 40 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 20 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 56 | 20.6% |
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 Bowling Green mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 136 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bowling Green departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $23,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bowling Green sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 19 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 775 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 11 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 47.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Bowling Green. 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.