In 2025, fire departments serving Grove City responded to 258 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,700 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 384 | — | |
| 2022 | 330 | -14.1% | |
| 2023 | 345 | +4.5% | |
| 2024 | 383 | +11.0% | |
| 2025 | 258 | -32.6% |
For the 27 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 486 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 | 136 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 59 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 53 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 42 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 19 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 107 | 22.0% |
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 Grove City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 320 | 65.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 35 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 42 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grove City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grove City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,355 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 355 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 46 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 30 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 37.9 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 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.