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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 384 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $170K property loss.

13,743 residents FIPS 39079 35 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
384
2,205 across 5 years
Building fires
109
43 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.3M structure · $755K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 56% of all calls.

384
Total Incidents
Building fires 109 28.4%
Power line down 44 11.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 25 6.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 5.2%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 17 4.4%
All other categories 169 44.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

Jan peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 63
Feb 33
Mar 50
Apr 25
May 32
Jun 23
Jul 30
Aug 25
Sep 35
Oct 15
Nov 36
Dec 17
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

2,205 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 344
2022 443
2023 472
2024 562
2025 384
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 109 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
44
Cause undetermined
22%
26
Intentional / arson
7%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
24
Under investigation
12%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 76% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $170,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Wellston Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Wellston Building fires Significant
7 $77,990 Oak Hill Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Wellston Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Jackson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $40,000 Oak Hill Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

27.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
27.94
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
7.93
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
7.93
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
72.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
72.8
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39079.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

10 departments report from this county.

NORWALK FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 39017 133 incidents 18 paid
JACKSON FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 40003 94 incidents
WELLSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Wellston
FDID 40009 88 incidents 3 paid
WILLARD FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 39023 78 incidents 5 paid
Madison Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department
—
FDID 40111 54 incidents 3 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.