In 2025, fire departments serving Springfield responded to 932 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,358 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 916 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,046 | +14.2% | |
| 2023 | 1,155 | +10.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,309 | +13.3% | |
| 2025 | 932 | -28.8% |
For the 113 building fires Springfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,739 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 | 263 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 224 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 187 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 127 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 120 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 82 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 61 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 59 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 57 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 52 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 507 | 29.2% |
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 Springfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 795 | 45.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 162 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 103 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 96 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 69 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 65 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 55 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 52 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 49 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 43 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 250 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Springfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 47% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $145,329 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $88,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Springfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
99 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 20 | |
| 30-39 | 27 | |
| 40-49 | 19 | |
| 50-59 | 11 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
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 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 3.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Springfield. 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.