In 2025, fire departments serving McArthur responded to 109 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 72% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
554 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | +48.0% | |
| 2023 | 133 | +19.8% | |
| 2024 | 126 | -5.3% | |
| 2025 | 109 | -13.5% |
For the 21 building fires McArthur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 194 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 54 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 32 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 11 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 20.1% |
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 McArthur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 110 | 56.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 15 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 5.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McArthur departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McArthur sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,946 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 476 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 400 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 355 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 310 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 303 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 290 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 250 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 201 | 44.9 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 McArthur. 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.