In 2025, fire departments serving Millersburg responded to 132 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
849 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 148 | — | |
| 2022 | 222 | +50.0% | |
| 2023 | 177 | -20.3% | |
| 2024 | 170 | -4.0% | |
| 2025 | 132 | -22.4% |
For the 31 building fires Millersburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 216 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 | 29 | 13.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 23 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 19 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 76 | 35.2% |
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 Millersburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 9 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 9 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Millersburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $13,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Millersburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,238 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 37.3 mi |
Top 4 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 Millersburg. 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.