In 2025, fire departments serving Sidney responded to 323 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 58% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,505 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.2M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 276 | — | |
| 2022 | 315 | +14.1% | |
| 2023 | 317 | +0.6% | |
| 2024 | 274 | -13.6% | |
| 2025 | 323 | +17.9% |
For the 65 building fires Sidney departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 422 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 | 60 | 14.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 49 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 20 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 136 | 32.2% |
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 Sidney mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 196 | 46.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 19 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 15.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sidney departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sidney sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
31 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 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 40 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 33.4 mi |
Top 7 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 Sidney. 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.