In 2025, fire departments serving Cleveland Heights responded to 389 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $66.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,977 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $71.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 414 | — | |
| 2022 | 417 | +0.7% | |
| 2023 | 436 | +4.6% | |
| 2024 | 321 | -26.4% | |
| 2025 | 389 | +21.2% |
For the 74 building fires Cleveland Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 255 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 | 49 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 29 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 14 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 78 | 30.6% |
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 Cleveland Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 124 | 48.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cleveland Heights departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $66,000,000 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $86,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cleveland Heights sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 475 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 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 27.1 mi |
Top 8 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 Cleveland Heights. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cleveland Heights.
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.