In 2025, fire departments serving Forest responded to 35 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
235 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $827K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | — | |
| 2022 | 65 | +47.7% | |
| 2023 | 41 | -36.9% | |
| 2024 | 50 | +22.0% | |
| 2025 | 35 | -30.0% |
For the 6 building fires Forest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | 28 | 31.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 16.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 13.5% |
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 Forest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 45 | 50.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Match | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Forest departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $300 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forest sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 400 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 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 41.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Forest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Forest.
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.