In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond Heights responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Richmond Heights's departments reported 72 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 125 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
624 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $478K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 151 | — | |
| 2022 | 136 | -9.9% | |
| 2023 | 120 | -11.8% | |
| 2024 | 145 | +20.8% | |
| 2025* | 72 | — |
* Well below Richmond Heights'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 29 building fires Richmond Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 128 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 | 36 | 28.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 17.2% |
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 Richmond Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 31 | 24.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richmond Heights departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richmond Heights sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 450 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 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 22.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Richmond Heights. 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.