In 2025, fire departments serving Oberlin responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
156 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $322K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | — | |
| 2024 | 63 | +65.8% | |
| 2025 | 55 | -12.7% |
* Well below Oberlin'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 2 building fires Oberlin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Other | 12 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 12.1% |
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 Oberlin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 5.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oberlin departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oberlin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,644 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 765 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 483 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 29.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 67749 | 156 |
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Oberlin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oberlin.
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.