In 2025, fire departments serving Strongsville responded to 267 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,569 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 321 | — | |
| 2022 | 325 | +1.2% | |
| 2023 | 299 | -8.0% | |
| 2024 | 357 | +19.4% | |
| 2025 | 267 | -25.2% |
For the 33 building fires Strongsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 304 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 | 45 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 35 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 26 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 16 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 88 | 28.9% |
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 Strongsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 138 | 45.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Strongsville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Strongsville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 716 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 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 32.8 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 Strongsville. 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.