In 2025, fire departments serving Oxford responded to 126 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
720 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $489K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 169 | — | |
| 2022 | 155 | -8.3% | |
| 2023 | 129 | -16.8% | |
| 2024 | 141 | +9.3% | |
| 2025 | 126 | -10.6% |
For the 14 building fires Oxford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 192 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 30 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 15.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 17.7% |
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 Oxford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 60 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 8 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 13.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oxford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% 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 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $300 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $250 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oxford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 475 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 20 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 45.3 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 Oxford. 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.