In 2025, fire departments serving Rocky River responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
703 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 194 | — | |
| 2022 | 145 | -25.3% | |
| 2023 | 104 | -28.3% | |
| 2024 | 159 | +52.9% | |
| 2025 | 101 | -36.5% |
For the 13 building fires Rocky River departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 137 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 | Outside area, other | 29 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 19.0% |
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 Rocky River mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 13 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rocky River departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rocky River sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 515 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 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 41.5 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 Rocky River. 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.