In 2025, fire departments serving Centerville responded to 192 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 56% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
762 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 101 | — | |
| 2022 | 110 | +8.9% | |
| 2023 | 112 | +1.8% | |
| 2024 | 247 | +120.5% | |
| 2025 | 192 | -22.3% |
For the 25 building fires Centerville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 210 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 | 31 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 31 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 24 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 12 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 21.9% |
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 Centerville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 79 | 37.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 11 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Candle | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Centerville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Centerville 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 227 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 38.9 mi |
Top 5 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 Centerville. 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.