In 2025, fire departments serving Delaware responded to 303 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $129K 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 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,809 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 222 | — | |
| 2022 | 399 | +79.7% | |
| 2023 | 452 | +13.3% | |
| 2024 | 433 | -4.2% | |
| 2025 | 303 | -30.0% |
For the 50 building fires Delaware departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 308 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 | 49 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 19 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 105 | 34.1% |
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 Delaware mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 121 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 28 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Delaware departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $128,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $128,900 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Delaware sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 13 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 720 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 18 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 46.9 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 Delaware. 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.