In 2025, fire departments serving Napoleon responded to 63 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 57% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
429 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 77 | — | |
| 2022 | 103 | +33.8% | |
| 2023 | 94 | -8.7% | |
| 2024 | 92 | -2.1% | |
| 2025 | 63 | -31.5% |
For the 18 building fires Napoleon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 169 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 | 34 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 27.8% |
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 Napoleon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 14.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Napoleon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Napoleon sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 503 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 15 | 48.9 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 Napoleon. 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.