In 2025, fire departments serving Maple Heights responded to 173 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $47K 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 70% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
576 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $848K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 55 | — | |
| 2022* | 30 | — | |
| 2023* | 26 | — | |
| 2024 | 292 | — | |
| 2025 | 173 | -40.8% |
* Well below Maple Heights'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 43 building fires Maple Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 16 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 19.3% |
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 Maple Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 44.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 16.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maple Heights departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $47,150 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $34,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $16,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maple Heights sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 6 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 505 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 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 47.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Maple Heights. 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.