In 2025, fire departments serving Portsmouth responded to 172 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 55% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,059 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 201 | — | |
| 2022 | 237 | +17.9% | |
| 2023 | 202 | -14.8% | |
| 2024 | 247 | +22.3% | |
| 2025 | 172 | -30.4% |
For the 37 building fires Portsmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 536 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 | Undetermined | 105 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 80 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 19 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 16 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 156 | 29.1% |
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 Portsmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 350 | 65.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 26 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 15 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 40 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Portsmouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 69% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,260 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $36,260 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Portsmouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,699 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 14.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 591 | 29.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 476 | 3.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 448 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 400 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 18.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Portsmouth. 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.