In 2025, fire departments serving North Bend responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1000K 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.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | -7.7% | |
| 2024 | 13 | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | 18 | +38.5% |
* Well below North Bend's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires North Bend departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 12.5% |
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 North Bend mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Bend departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $999,999 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Bend sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,718 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 38.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45052 | 63 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of North Bend. 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.