In 2025, fire departments serving Brunswick responded to 191 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 58% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,025 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 190 | — | |
| 2022 | 221 | +16.3% | |
| 2023 | 228 | +3.2% | |
| 2024 | 195 | -14.5% | |
| 2025 | 191 | -2.1% |
For the 15 building fires Brunswick departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 185 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 | 32 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 29 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 14 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 22.7% |
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 Brunswick mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 17 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brunswick departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $198,392 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brunswick sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 13 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 763 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 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 12 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 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 Brunswick. 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.