In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin responded to 190 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $148K 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 56% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,129 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 164 | — | |
| 2022 | 252 | +53.7% | |
| 2023 | 252 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 271 | +7.5% | |
| 2025 | 190 | -29.9% |
For the 49 building fires Franklin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 314 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 | 58 | 18.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 39 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 37 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 28 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 22.3% |
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 Franklin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 192 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 34 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Franklin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $147,940 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $123,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $17,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 372 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 20 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 41.0 mi |
Top 7 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 Franklin. 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.