In 2025, fire departments serving Hillsboro responded to 224 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 189 | — | |
| 2022 | 225 | +19.0% | |
| 2023 | 238 | +5.8% | |
| 2024 | 236 | -0.8% | |
| 2025 | 224 | -5.1% |
For the 55 building fires Hillsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 341 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 | 85 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 32 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 20 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 92 | 27.0% |
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 Hillsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 142 | 41.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 25 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 19 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 55 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hillsboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $466,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $180,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $110,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hillsboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,446 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 591 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 476 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 400 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 366 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 355 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 332 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 46.8 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 Hillsboro. 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.