In 2025, fire departments serving Suffield responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 63% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
52 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $81K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | +60.0% |
* Well below Suffield'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 3 building fires Suffield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 4.3% |
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 Suffield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Match | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Suffield departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Suffield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,134 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 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 48.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Suffield. 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.