In 2025, fire departments serving Silver Lake responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
102 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $34K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -20.8% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +47.4% |
* Well below Silver Lake'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 0 building fires Silver Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Closet | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Silver Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 5 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver Lake departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $250 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silver Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 23 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,037 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 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 46.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44224 | 102 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Silver Lake. 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.