In 2025, fire departments serving New Philadelphia responded to 200 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,061 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 207 | — | |
| 2022 | 203 | -1.9% | |
| 2023 | 257 | +26.6% | |
| 2024 | 194 | -24.5% | |
| 2025 | 200 | +3.1% |
For the 35 building fires New Philadelphia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 225 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 | 105 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 15 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 13.8% |
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 New Philadelphia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 155 | 68.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 16 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Candle | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Philadelphia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Philadelphia 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,468 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 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 22.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 46.9 mi |
Top 6 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 New Philadelphia. 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.