In 2025, fire departments serving Grove City responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $274K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 11 | -8.3% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* Well below Grove City'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 Grove City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Office | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.1% |
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 Grove City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grove City departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grove City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,588 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 847 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 404 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 321 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 235 | 40.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56243 | 57 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Grove City. 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.