In 2025, fire departments serving Newark responded to 592 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,965 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $14.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 725 | — | |
| 2022 | 867 | +19.6% | |
| 2023 | 845 | -2.5% | |
| 2024 | 936 | +10.8% | |
| 2025 | 592 | -36.8% |
For the 155 building fires Newark departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 753 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 | 180 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 99 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 59 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 53 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 28 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 220 | 29.2% |
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 Newark mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 430 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 42 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 32 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 9.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newark departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newark sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,202 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 53 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 24.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Newark. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newark.
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.