In 2025, fire departments serving Northfield responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
30 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $82K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Northfield'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 0 building fires Northfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Northfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northfield departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 530 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 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 45.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Northfield. 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.