In 2025, fire departments serving Cleveland responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $103K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $180K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +38.5% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | +41.7% |
* Well below Cleveland's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Cleveland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 12 | 63.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 5.3% |
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 mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cleveland departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $103,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cleveland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,673 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 31.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Cleveland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cleveland.
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.