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2025 County Report

Fires in Adams County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Adams County responded to 406 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

9,793 residents FIPS 39001 40 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
406
2,015 across 5 years
Building fires
184
17 wildland
Property loss
$4.5M
$2.8M structure · $1.7M contents
Casualties
3 / 3
3 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

406
Total Incidents
Building fires 184 45.3%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 31 7.6%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 25 6.2%
Power line down 24 5.9%
Authorized controlled burning 18 4.4%
All other categories 124 30.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Adams County?

Apr peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 37
Feb 47
Mar 18
Apr 60
May 43
Jun 24
Jul 20
Aug 17
Sep 30
Oct 34
Nov 57
Dec 19
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Adams County

2,015 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 298
2022 427
2023 434
2024 450
2025 406
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 184 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
53
Cause undetermined
5%
7
Intentional / arson
13%
17
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
21
Under investigation
22%
29
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Adams County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 69% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Meigs Township Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $300,000 Bratton Township Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Meigs Township Building fires Major
4 $150,000 Franklin Township Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Peebles Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
7 $120,000 Peebles Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $91,950 Peebles Building fires Significant
9 $80,000 West Union Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $50,000 Manchester Building fires Significant
06 How Adams County compares

Adams County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

41.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Adams County
41.46
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
18.79
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Adams County
18.79
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
306.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Adams County
306.3
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Adams County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Adams County

8 departments report from this county.

WEST UNION FD LIFE SQUAD
—
FDID 01013 64 incidents 2 vol
PEEBLES FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 01007 58 incidents
FRANKLIN TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 01105 57 incidents 2 vol
WAYNE TWP VOL FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 01127 39 incidents 2 vol
WINCHESTER COMMUNITY FIRE DIST
—
FDID 01015 32 incidents 1 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in OH

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 OHOTR-FY19-RX-Blausey Spring 2019 WUI 2019 FWS 125
2 Little Storm Creek 2020 USFS 122
3 GREEN 2015 USFS 109
4 THIRTEEN 2018 USFS 105
5 Terra Vista Prescribe Fire 2021 NPS 79
6 Lawco 2023 USFS 61
7 128 2021 USFS 51
8 FY23 NERI RX Burns 2022 NPS 40
9 Rock Hollow 2023 USFS 29
10 HOADLEY 2018 USFS 24

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.