In 2025, fire departments serving Riverside responded to 176 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $135K 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 65% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,119 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 245 | — | |
| 2022 | 299 | +22.0% | |
| 2023 | 175 | -41.5% | |
| 2024 | 224 | +28.0% | |
| 2025 | 176 | -21.4% |
For the 39 building fires Riverside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 214 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 20 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 28.5% |
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 Riverside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 87 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 34 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Riverside departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $135,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $28,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $23,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riverside sits below 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 175 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 46.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Riverside. 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.