In 2025, fire departments serving South Euclid responded to 214 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,388 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 224 | — | |
| 2022 | 269 | +20.1% | |
| 2023 | 324 | +20.4% | |
| 2024 | 357 | +10.2% | |
| 2025 | 214 | -40.1% |
For the 41 building fires South Euclid departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 180 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 | 52 | 28.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 34 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 17.8% |
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 South Euclid mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by South Euclid departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Euclid sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 475 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 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 24.9 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 South Euclid. 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.