In 2025, fire departments serving Lancaster responded to 516 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,829 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $11.1M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 568 | — | |
| 2022 | 548 | -3.5% | |
| 2023 | 619 | +13.0% | |
| 2024 | 578 | -6.6% | |
| 2025 | 516 | -10.7% |
For the 136 building fires Lancaster departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 543 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 | 70 | 12.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 62 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 62 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 51 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 181 | 33.3% |
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 Lancaster mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 214 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 48 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 45 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 33 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 13.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lancaster departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $652,535 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $381,970 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $324,724 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $264,741 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $244,252 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $112,762 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lancaster sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
38 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,900 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 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 53 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 28.9 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 Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Lancaster. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lancaster.
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.