In 2025, fire departments serving Hilliard responded to 147 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K 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 65% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
851 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 138 | — | |
| 2022 | 194 | +40.6% | |
| 2023 | 183 | -5.7% | |
| 2024 | 189 | +3.3% | |
| 2025 | 147 | -22.2% |
For the 10 building fires Hilliard departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 188 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 28 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 21 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 23.4% |
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 Hilliard mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 109 | 58.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hilliard departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $139,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $90,360 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hilliard sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 17 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,010 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 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 49.9 mi |
Top 8 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 Hilliard. 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.