In 2025, fire departments serving Van Buren responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 82% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $708K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | -10.5% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | — |
* Well below Van Buren'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 10 building fires Van Buren 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 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 Van Buren mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 65.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Van Buren departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Van Buren sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 12 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 568 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 11 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 45.4 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 Van Buren. 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.