In 2025, fire departments serving Grove City responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $118K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Grove City's departments reported 47 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 100 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
500 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $528K cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 112 | — | |
| 2022 | 112 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 125 | +11.6% | |
| 2024 | 104 | -16.8% | |
| 2025* | 47 | — |
* 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 12 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 116 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 | 25 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 24.1% |
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 | 25 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 11 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grove City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $118,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grove City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,560 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 342 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 47 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 41 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 38 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 33 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 23.8 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Grove City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grove City.
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.