In 2025, fire departments serving Cleveland responded to 2,656 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
18,794 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $73.0M cumulative property loss. 34 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,938 | — | |
| 2022 | 3,826 | -2.8% | |
| 2023 | 4,193 | +9.6% | |
| 2024 | 4,181 | -0.3% | |
| 2025 | 2,656 | -36.5% |
For the 473 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 5,509 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 829 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 568 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 373 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 364 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 317 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 277 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 269 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 216 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 196 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 150 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1,950 | 35.4% |
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 | 1,356 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 669 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 580 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 481 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 326 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 324 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 234 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 191 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 169 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 156 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1,023 | 18.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cleveland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 23% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $440,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $330,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cleveland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
209 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 | 10 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 14 | |
| 30-39 | 44 | |
| 40-49 | 33 | |
| 50-59 | 45 | |
| 60-69 | 34 | |
| 70-79 | 19 | |
| 80+ | 6 |
Top 6 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 505 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 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 46.5 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 Cleveland. 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.