In 2025, fire departments serving Northwood responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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 59% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
348 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $955K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60 | — | |
| 2022 | 73 | +21.7% | |
| 2023 | 79 | +8.2% | |
| 2024 | 68 | -13.9% | |
| 2025 | 68 | +0.0% |
For the 17 building fires Northwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 107 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 | 14 | 13.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 25.2% |
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 Northwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 26.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 16.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 23 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 955 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 49.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Northwood. 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.