In 2025, fire departments serving West Union responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
424 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $599K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 84 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | +25.0% | |
| 2023 | 64 | -39.0% | |
| 2024 | 95 | +48.4% | |
| 2025 | 76 | -20.0% |
For the 30 building fires West Union departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 144 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 | 85 | 59.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 13.2% |
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 West Union mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 93 | 64.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Union departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Union sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,168 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,102 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 19.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 591 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 476 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 400 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 366 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 332 | 20.1 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 West Union. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Union.
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.