In 2025, fire departments serving Tallmadge responded to 127 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 71% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
655 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 124 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | -21.8% | |
| 2023 | 163 | +68.0% | |
| 2024 | 144 | -11.7% | |
| 2025 | 127 | -11.8% |
For the 33 building fires Tallmadge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 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 | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 33.9% |
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 Tallmadge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 33.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tallmadge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | 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. Tallmadge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,083 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 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 43.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Tallmadge. 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.