In 2025, fire departments serving South Point responded to 123 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $194K 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 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
666 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 109 | — | |
| 2022 | 152 | +39.4% | |
| 2023 | 128 | -15.8% | |
| 2024 | 154 | +20.3% | |
| 2025 | 123 | -20.1% |
For the 38 building fires South Point departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 228 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 | 40 | 17.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 26 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 18 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 7.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 26.8% |
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 Point mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 42.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 25 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Match | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by South Point departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $193,710 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $149,810 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $86,380 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $55,990 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Point sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 40,907 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,769 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,739 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,640 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,624 | 40.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Point. 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.