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2025 County Report

Fires in Belmont County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Belmont County responded to 528 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

34,261 residents FIPS 39013 77 cities · 19 fire depts
Total incidents
528
2,740 across 5 years
Building fires
89
45 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.6M structure · $183K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

528
Total Incidents
Building fires 89 16.9%
Power line down 72 13.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 41 7.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 37 7.0%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 28 5.3%
All other categories 261 49.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Belmont County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 52
Feb 31
Mar 84
Apr 52
May 55
Jun 42
Jul 47
Aug 61
Sep 12
Oct 29
Nov 45
Dec 18
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Belmont County

2,740 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 552
2022 523
2023 529
2024 608
2025 528
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 89 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
17%
17
Cause undetermined
51%
51
Intentional / arson
21%
21
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
5
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Belmont County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 BELLAIRE Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Powhatan PointRR n Building fires Significant
3 $120,000 BARNESVILLE Building fires Significant
4 $85,000 GLENCOE Building fires Significant
5 $80,000 BARNESVILLE Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Holloway Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 Flushing Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 BARNESVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $20,000 Bethesda Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Saint Clairsville Building fires Significant
06 How Belmont County compares

Belmont County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.41
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Belmont County
15.41
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Belmont County
2.6
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Belmont County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Belmont County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Belmont County

19 departments report from this county.

CUMBERLAND TRAIL FIRE DISTRICT
—
FDID 07041 89 incidents 15 paid
O R W Fire District9
—
FDID 07039 42 incidents 4 vol
MARTINS FERRY FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 07029 36 incidents 8 vol
BARNESVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 07003 30 incidents
COLERAIN FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 07205 29 incidents 2 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.