In 2025, fire departments serving Fairport Harbor responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
195 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $57K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | — | |
| 2024 | 105 | +320.0% | |
| 2025 | 53 | -49.5% |
* Well below Fairport Harbor's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Fairport Harbor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Closet | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 10.0% |
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 Fairport Harbor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairport Harbor departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Attempt to burn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairport Harbor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 420 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 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 8.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44077 | 194 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Fairport Harbor. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fairport Harbor.
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.