In 2025, fire departments serving Willoughby responded to 298 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 74% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,957 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $16.1M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 344 | — | |
| 2022 | 360 | +4.7% | |
| 2023 | 461 | +28.1% | |
| 2024 | 494 | +7.2% | |
| 2025 | 298 | -39.7% |
For the 38 building fires Willoughby departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 308 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 64 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 55 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 23 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 71 | 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 Willoughby mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 137 | 44.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 22 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 16 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Willoughby departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Willoughby sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 420 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 3.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 15.7 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 Willoughby. 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.