In 2025, fire departments serving Painesville responded to 168 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,200 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 278 | — | |
| 2022 | 280 | +0.7% | |
| 2023 | 249 | -11.1% | |
| 2024 | 225 | -9.6% | |
| 2025 | 168 | -25.3% |
For the 57 building fires Painesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 238 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 | 66 | 27.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 34 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 67 | 28.2% |
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 Painesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 55 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 16 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 13 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Painesville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,600 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Painesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
26 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 420 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 | 5.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 6.9 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 Painesville. 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.