In 2025, fire departments serving Vermilion responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
509 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 97 | — | |
| 2022 | 104 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 128 | +23.1% | |
| 2024 | 98 | -23.4% | |
| 2025 | 82 | -16.3% |
For the 8 building fires Vermilion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 121 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 | 25 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 13 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 23.1% |
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 Vermilion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Match | 15 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vermilion departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vermilion sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 276 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 39.9 mi |
Top 5 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 Vermilion. 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.