In 2025, fire departments serving Mechanicsburg responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $7K 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 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
148 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $698K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | +20.7% | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 42 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | -40.5% |
* Well below Mechanicsburg'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 8 building fires Mechanicsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 11 | 22.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 12.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.0% |
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 Mechanicsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mechanicsburg departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mechanicsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 5 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 406 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 49.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 43044 | 148 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Mechanicsburg. 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.