In 2025, fire departments serving Toledo responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
162 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $412K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 42 | — | |
| 2023 | 37 | -11.9% | |
| 2024 | 39 | +5.4% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -35.9% |
* Well below Toledo'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 6 building fires Toledo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 75 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 | 34 | 45.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Corridor, mall | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 9.3% |
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 Toledo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 12 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Match | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 18.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Toledo departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Toledo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,030 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 6.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 3.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 32.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52342 | 162 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Toledo. 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.