In 2025, fire departments serving Kent responded to 316 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,553 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 270 | — | |
| 2022 | 332 | +23.0% | |
| 2023 | 334 | +0.6% | |
| 2024 | 301 | -9.9% | |
| 2025 | 316 | +5.0% |
For the 27 building fires Kent departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 285 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 | 90 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 55 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 23 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 18.9% |
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 Kent mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 172 | 60.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kent departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kent sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,074 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 42.8 mi |
Top 7 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 Kent. 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.