In 2025, fire departments serving Columbus responded to 650 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 48% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,593 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 540 | — | |
| 2022 | 808 | +49.6% | |
| 2023 | 803 | -0.6% | |
| 2024 | 792 | -1.4% | |
| 2025 | 650 | -17.9% |
For the 97 building fires Columbus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 470 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 | 169 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 74 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 21 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 119 | 25.3% |
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 Columbus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 271 | 57.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 27 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 23 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 5 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Columbus departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Columbus sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,199 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 30.5 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 Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Columbus. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Columbus.
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.