In 2025, fire departments serving Mount Vernon responded to 200 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,200 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 195 | — | |
| 2022 | 303 | +55.4% | |
| 2023 | 282 | -6.9% | |
| 2024 | 220 | -22.0% | |
| 2025 | 200 | -9.1% |
For the 38 building fires Mount Vernon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 313 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 | 107 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 64 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 19 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 49 | 15.7% |
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 Vernon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 155 | 49.5% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 16 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Vernon departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Vernon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,442 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 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 23.8 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 Vernon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mount Vernon.
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.