In 2025, fire departments serving East Liverpool responded to 203 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $225K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,236 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $7.3M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 327 | — | |
| 2022 | 214 | -34.6% | |
| 2023 | 233 | +8.9% | |
| 2024 | 259 | +11.2% | |
| 2025 | 203 | -21.6% |
For the 24 building fires East Liverpool departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 252 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 | 77 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 27.8% |
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 East Liverpool mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 150 | 59.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Liverpool departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $52,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Liverpool sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 944 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 27.8 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 East Liverpool. 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.