In 2025, fire departments serving Salem responded to 267 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 64% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,919 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 359 | — | |
| 2022 | 332 | -7.5% | |
| 2023 | 502 | +51.2% | |
| 2024 | 459 | -8.6% | |
| 2025 | 267 | -41.8% |
For the 51 building fires Salem departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 301 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 | 48 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 30 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 21 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 13 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 89 | 29.6% |
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 Salem mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 34.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 22 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 50 | 16.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Salem departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Salem sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 920 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 28.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 29 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 17.7 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 Salem. 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.