In 2025, fire departments serving Broadview Heights responded to 105 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
490 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $264K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 38 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | — | |
| 2023 | 103 | -1.9% | |
| 2024 | 139 | +35.0% | |
| 2025 | 105 | -24.5% |
* Well below Broadview Heights's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 7 building fires Broadview Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 107 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 | Outside area, other | 25 | 23.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 17.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 13.1% |
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 Broadview Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Broadview Heights departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $18,484 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Broadview Heights sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 555 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 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 49.3 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 Broadview Heights. 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.