In 2025, fire departments serving Little Hocking responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 78% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
92 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $557K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | +18.2% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -30.8% |
* Well below Little Hocking'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 3 building fires Little Hocking departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | 10 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 10.3% |
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 Little Hocking mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Little Hocking departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Little Hocking sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,892 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 143 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 125 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 109 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 83 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 26.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 58 | 27.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Little Hocking. 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.