In 2025, fire departments serving Dublin responded to 228 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $261K 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 67% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,367 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 244 | — | |
| 2022 | 278 | +13.9% | |
| 2023 | 256 | -7.9% | |
| 2024 | 361 | +41.0% | |
| 2025 | 228 | -36.8% |
For the 20 building fires Dublin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 290 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 | 48 | 16.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 16 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 5 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 66 | 22.8% |
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 Dublin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 112 | 38.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 28 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dublin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $260,924 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $182,565 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $139,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dublin sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
26 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 12 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 585 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 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 36.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Dublin. 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.