In 2025, fire departments serving Rushsylvania responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $36K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
77 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $61K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | -12.5% | |
| 2023 | 20 | +42.9% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Rushsylvania'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 3 building fires Rushsylvania departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Rushsylvania mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Match | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rushsylvania departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $36,060 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rushsylvania sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 372 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 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 36.2 mi |
Top 2 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 Rushsylvania. 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.