In 2025, fire departments serving Plain City responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 71% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
716 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 130 | — | |
| 2022 | 169 | +30.0% | |
| 2023 | 149 | -11.8% | |
| 2024 | 177 | +18.8% | |
| 2025 | 91 | -48.6% |
For the 24 building fires Plain City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 124 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 29.0% |
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 Plain City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 42.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 15.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plain City departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plain City 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 501 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 24 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 39.8 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 Plain City. 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.