In 2025, fire departments serving Canton responded to 1,100 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,172 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $18.9M cumulative property loss. 12 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,264 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,137 | -10.0% | |
| 2023 | 1,361 | +19.7% | |
| 2024 | 1,310 | -3.7% | |
| 2025 | 1,100 | -16.0% |
For the 129 building fires Canton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,609 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 | Undetermined | 301 | 18.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 189 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 168 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 148 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 115 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 52 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 52 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 51 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 51 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 39 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 443 | 27.5% |
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 Canton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 947 | 58.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 94 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 73 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 68 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 56 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 46 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 35 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 164 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Canton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 58% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $131,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
126 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 16 | |
| 50-59 | 12 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 933 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 3.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Canton. 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.