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2025 County Report

Fires in Jefferson County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson County responded to 592 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $125K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

37,973 residents FIPS 39081 76 cities · 19 fire depts
Total incidents
592
3,441 across 5 years
Building fires
130
82 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.5M structure · $558K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 50% of all calls.

592
Total Incidents
Building fires 130 22.0%
Power line down 74 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 5.2%
Unauthorized burning 31 5.2%
Cooking fire, confined to container 30 5.1%
All other categories 296 50.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jefferson County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 49
Feb 53
Mar 87
Apr 71
May 57
Jun 45
Jul 35
Aug 49
Sep 43
Oct 36
Nov 38
Dec 29
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jefferson County

3,441 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 662
2022 624
2023 759
2024 804
2025 592
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 130 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
36%
54
Cause undetermined
31%
46
Intentional / arson
9%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
14
Under investigation
11%
17
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $975K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jefferson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 63% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $125,000 Hammondsville Building fires Significant
2 $125,000 Bloomingdale Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Amsterdam Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $100,000 WELLS TWP Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Hammondsville Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Bergholz Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Wintersville Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Mingo Junction Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Steubenville Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Steubenville Building fires Significant
06 How Jefferson County compares

Jefferson County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.59
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
15.59
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.42
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
3.42
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
26.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jefferson County
26.3
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jefferson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39081.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jefferson County

19 departments report from this county.

STEUBENVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Steubenville
FDID 41037 171 incidents 40 paid
TORONTO FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 41043 60 incidents 6 paid 3 vol
MINGO JUNCTION FIRE EMS
—
FDID 41025 41 incidents 5 paid
LIBERTY TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
Jackson
FDID 40200 33 incidents 1 vol
BRILLIANT VOL FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 41009 30 incidents 2 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.