In 2025, fire departments serving Willard responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $190K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
478 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 85 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | +14.1% | |
| 2023 | 122 | +25.8% | |
| 2024 | 90 | -26.2% | |
| 2025 | 84 | -6.7% |
For the 12 building fires Willard departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 123 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 | 22 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 31.7% |
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 Willard mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 40 | 32.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 17.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Willard departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $189,670 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Incinerator overload or malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Willard sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 10 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 633 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 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 35.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Willard. 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.