In 2025, fire departments serving Wauseon responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
461 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 95 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | -20.0% | |
| 2023 | 107 | +40.8% | |
| 2024 | 105 | -1.9% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -25.7% |
For the 9 building fires Wauseon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 180 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 | 84 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 12.2% |
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 Wauseon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 132 | 73.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 4.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wauseon departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wauseon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 749 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 21 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 46.4 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 | 43567 | 461 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Wauseon. 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.