In 2025, fire departments serving Gates Mills responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Gates Mills's departments reported 29 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 74 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $668K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 82 | +9.3% | |
| 2023 | 85 | +3.7% | |
| 2024 | 97 | +14.1% | |
| 2025* | 29 | — |
* Well below Gates Mills'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 Gates Mills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | Outside area, other | 6 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 25.0% |
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 Gates Mills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gates Mills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 450 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 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 19.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Gates Mills. 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.