In 2025, fire departments serving Brown County responded to 414 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $357K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
2,442 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 374 | |
| 2022 | 596 | |
| 2023 | 500 | |
| 2024 | 558 | |
| 2025 | 414 |
For the 87 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Brown County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $357,120 | Sardinia | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $200,000 | Mount Orab | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant |
| 3 | $175,000 | Georgetown | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $80,000 | Ripley | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $80,000 | Georgetown | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant |
| 6 | $80,000 | Sardinia | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $50,000 | Aberdeen | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $40,000 | Ripley | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $40,000 | Ripley | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $40,000 | Ripley | Fire, other | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 39015.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Orab | 4,544 | View › |
| Georgetown | 4,323 | View › |
| Ripley | 1,609 | View › |
| Sardinia | 1,328 | View › |
| Aberdeen | 1,298 | View › |
| Lake Lorelei | 1,143 | View › |
| Lake Waynoka | 1,103 | View › |
| Russellville | 672 | View › |
| Hamersville | 642 | View › |
| Higginsport | 287 | View › |
| Fayetteville | 241 | View › |
| St. Martin | 135 | View › |
8 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.