In 2025, fire departments serving Toledo responded to 1,848 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $215K 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 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
10,813 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $41.8M cumulative property loss. 27 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,379 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,106 | -11.5% | |
| 2023 | 2,100 | -0.3% | |
| 2024 | 2,380 | +13.3% | |
| 2025 | 1,848 | -22.4% |
For the 327 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 3,829 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 | Undetermined | 548 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 521 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 348 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 282 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 212 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 198 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 167 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 144 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 132 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 116 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1,161 | 30.3% |
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 | Undetermined | 1,890 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 309 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 256 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 223 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 173 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 158 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 106 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 101 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 86 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 75 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 452 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Toledo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 20% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $214,910 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $206,070 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $177,470 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $115,663 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $109,825 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Toledo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
237 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 | 9 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 23 | |
| 30-39 | 42 | |
| 40-49 | 31 | |
| 50-59 | 31 | |
| 60-69 | 20 | |
| 70-79 | 7 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,006 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 21 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 31.7 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 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.