In 2025, fire departments serving Sandusky responded to 189 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,401 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 322 | — | |
| 2022 | 306 | -5.0% | |
| 2023 | 326 | +6.5% | |
| 2024 | 258 | -20.9% | |
| 2025 | 189 | -26.7% |
For the 29 building fires Sandusky departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 355 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 | 61 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 42 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 39 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 105 | 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 Sandusky mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 127 | 35.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 39 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 24 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 17 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 56 | 15.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sandusky departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $59,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sandusky sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 8 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 491 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 20.0 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 Sandusky. 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.