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2025 County Report

Fires in Delaware County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Delaware County responded to 892 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

66,813 residents FIPS 39041 36 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
892
5,386 across 5 years
Building fires
153
72 wildland
Property loss
$3.3M
$2.4M structure · $860K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

892
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 188 21.1%
Building fires 153 17.2%
Power line down 72 8.1%
Unauthorized burning 70 7.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 39 4.4%
All other categories 370 41.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Delaware County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 77
Feb 67
Mar 96
Apr 106
May 61
Jun 46
Jul 81
Aug 89
Sep 50
Oct 81
Nov 98
Dec 40
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Delaware County

5,386 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 861
2022 1,190
2023 1,222
2024 1,221
2025 892
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 153 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
88
Cause undetermined
16%
26
Intentional / arson
10%
17
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
16
Under investigation
7%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Delaware County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 53% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Columbus Building fires Major
2 $200,000 LEWIS CENTER Building fires Significant
3 $128,900 City of Delaware Building fires Significant
4 $128,900 City of Delaware Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $125,000 SUNBURY Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 WestfieldTownship Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 Ashley Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 GALENA Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 City of Delaware Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $70,000 City of Delaware Building fires Significant
06 How Delaware County compares

Delaware County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
13.35
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.29
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
2.29
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Delaware County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Delaware County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39041.

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.