In 2025, fire departments serving North Olmsted responded to 206 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
930 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 192 | — | |
| 2022 | 155 | -19.3% | |
| 2023 | 174 | +12.3% | |
| 2024 | 203 | +16.7% | |
| 2025 | 206 | +1.5% |
For the 36 building fires North Olmsted departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 221 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 14.5% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 32 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 26 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 10.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 21.3% |
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 Olmsted mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 19 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Olmsted departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Olmsted sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 8 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 545 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 36.6 mi |
Top 5 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 North Olmsted. 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.