In 2025, fire departments serving North Royalton responded to 164 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
596 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 216 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | -64.8% | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 124 | — | |
| 2025 | 164 | +32.3% |
* Well below North Royalton'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 17 building fires North Royalton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 65 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 | 7 | 10.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 32.3% |
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 Royalton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Royalton departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Royalton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 555 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 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 49.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Royalton. 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.