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2025 County Report

Fires in Champaign County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Champaign County responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

18,074 residents FIPS 39021 24 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
270
1,798 across 5 years
Building fires
58
10 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$851K structure · $502K 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 61% of all calls.

270
Total Incidents
Building fires 58 21.5%
Power line down 50 18.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 21 7.8%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 18 6.7%
Unauthorized burning 17 6.3%
All other categories 106 39.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Champaign County?

Jun peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 17
Feb 11
Mar 31
Apr 28
May 27
Jun 44
Jul 36
Aug 16
Sep 4
Oct 24
Nov 22
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Champaign County

1,798 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 354
2022 454
2023 301
2024 419
2025 270
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 58 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
27
Cause undetermined
7%
4
Intentional / arson
19%
11
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
7
Under investigation
11%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $777K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Champaign County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 URBANA Building fires Major
2 $125,000 URBANA Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Urbana Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Urbana Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 URBANA Building fires Significant
6 $42,500 Urbana Building fires Significant
7 $25,000 URBANA Building fires Significant
8 $14,000 Urbana Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 CONCORD TWP Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Urbana Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Champaign County compares

Champaign County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Champaign County
14.94
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.21
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Champaign County
3.21
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Champaign County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Champaign County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39021.

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.