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2025 County Report

Fires in Butler County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Butler County responded to 2,693 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

232,743 residents FIPS 39017 61 cities · 21 fire depts
Total incidents
2,693
16,537 across 5 years
Building fires
564
188 wildland
Property loss
$10.7M
$6.2M structure · $4.5M contents
Casualties
0 / 10
0 civ deaths · 7 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

2,693
Total Incidents
Building fires 564 20.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 304 11.3%
Power line down 269 10.0%
Unauthorized burning 224 8.3%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 138 5.1%
All other categories 1,194 44.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Butler County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 250
Feb 207
Mar 288
Apr 277
May 194
Jun 261
Jul 205
Aug 272
Sep 187
Oct 218
Nov 219
Dec 115
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Butler County

16,537 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,970
2022 3,671
2023 3,573
2024 3,630
2025 2,693
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 564 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
276
Cause undetermined
17%
100
Intentional / arson
11%
64
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
67
Under investigation
10%
57
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Butler County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 42% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 FAIRFIELD Building fires Major
2 $400,000 MADISON TWP Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Liberty Building fires Major
4 $289,520 WEST CHESTER Building fires Major
5 $250,000 MORGAN TWP Building fires Major
6 $230,000 FAIRFIELD TWP Building fires Significant
7 $230,000 WEST CHESTER Building fires Significant
8 $200,000 HAMILTON Building fires Significant
9 $173,000 Hamilton Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 HAMILTON Building fires Significant
06 How Butler County compares

Butler County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.57
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Butler County
11.57
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.42
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Butler County
2.42
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Butler County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Butler County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39017.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Butler County

21 departments report from this county.

HAMILTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 09015 593 incidents 113 paid
LIBERTY TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 09107 244 incidents 18 paid
MIDDLETOWN DIVISION OF FIRE
—
FDID 09021 209 incidents 78 paid
FAIRFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 09011 183 incidents 26 paid
MT ORAB FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 08013 132 incidents 1 paid
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.