In 2025, fire departments serving Mount Gilead responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 75% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
396 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 133 | — | |
| 2022 | 55 | -58.6% | |
| 2023 | 72 | +30.9% | |
| 2024 | 71 | -1.4% | |
| 2025 | 65 | -8.5% |
For the 30 building fires Mount Gilead departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 141 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 | 27 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 14.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 12.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 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 Mount Gilead mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 66 | 46.8% | |
| 2 | Match | 15 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Gilead departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Gilead 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 22 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,051 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 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 36.1 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 Mount Gilead. 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.