In 2025, fire departments serving Brecksville responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
595 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $103K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 113 | — | |
| 2022 | 109 | -3.5% | |
| 2023 | 141 | +29.4% | |
| 2024 | 133 | -5.7% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -25.6% |
For the 8 building fires Brecksville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 93 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 | 11 | 11.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 26.9% |
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 Brecksville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 34.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 15.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brecksville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brecksville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 12 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 607 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 12 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 48.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Brecksville. 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.