In 2025, fire departments serving Fostoria responded to 132 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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 48% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
757 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 170 | — | |
| 2022 | 155 | -8.8% | |
| 2023 | 156 | +0.6% | |
| 2024 | 144 | -7.7% | |
| 2025 | 132 | -8.3% |
For the 19 building fires Fostoria departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 251 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 | 46 | 18.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 18 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 78 | 31.1% |
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 Fostoria mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 124 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fostoria departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fostoria sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 552 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 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 11 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 44.7 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 Fostoria. 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.