In 2025, fire departments serving Milford responded to 304 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,386 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 198 | — | |
| 2022 | 303 | +53.0% | |
| 2023 | 276 | -8.9% | |
| 2024 | 305 | +10.5% | |
| 2025 | 304 | -0.3% |
For the 63 building fires Milford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 306 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 | 63 | 20.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 51 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 37 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Other | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 63 | 20.6% |
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 Milford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 139 | 45.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 19 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $131,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $56,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 914 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 49.0 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 Milford. 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.