In 2025, fire departments serving Findlay responded to 281 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $914K 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 50% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,663 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $7.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 304 | — | |
| 2022 | 382 | +25.7% | |
| 2023 | 341 | -10.7% | |
| 2024 | 355 | +4.1% | |
| 2025 | 281 | -20.8% |
For the 29 building fires Findlay departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 501 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 | 62 | 12.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 58 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 57 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 55 | 11.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 19 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 145 | 28.9% |
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 Findlay mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 194 | 38.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 43 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 36 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 24 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 22 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 17 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 75 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Findlay departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $914,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $130,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Findlay sits below 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 558 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 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 11 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 50.0 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 Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Findlay. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Findlay.
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.