In 2025, fire departments serving Norwood responded to 211 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 71% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,470 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 270 | — | |
| 2022 | 330 | +22.2% | |
| 2023 | 333 | +0.9% | |
| 2024 | 326 | -2.1% | |
| 2025 | 211 | -35.3% |
For the 36 building fires Norwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 290 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 | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 43 | 14.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 35 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 18 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 17 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 15.5% |
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 Norwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 143 | 49.3% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 37 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Sunlight | 9 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 721 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 50.0 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 Norwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norwood.
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.