In 2025, fire departments serving Bryan responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $165K 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 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
606 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 138 | — | |
| 2022 | 128 | -7.2% | |
| 2023 | 114 | -10.9% | |
| 2024 | 130 | +14.0% | |
| 2025 | 96 | -26.2% |
For the 41 building fires Bryan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 208 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 | 30 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 20 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 64 | 30.8% |
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 Bryan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 35.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Match | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 16.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bryan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $165,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bryan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 23 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 617 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 24.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Bryan. 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.