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2025 County Report

Fires in Lorain County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Lorain County responded to 2,524 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

265,577 residents FIPS 39093 32 cities · 84 fire depts
Total incidents
2,524
15,303 across 5 years
Building fires
300
119 wildland
Property loss
$6.8M
$5.5M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 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 61% of all calls.

2,524
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 488 19.3%
Power line down 404 16.0%
Building fires 300 11.9%
Unauthorized burning 210 8.3%
Carbon monoxide incident 137 5.4%
All other categories 985 39.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lorain County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 165
Feb 134
Mar 237
Apr 221
May 237
Jun 181
Jul 323
Aug 217
Sep 220
Oct 279
Nov 194
Dec 116
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lorain County

15,303 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3,023
2022 3,179
2023 3,123
2024 3,454
2025 2,524
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 300 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
242
Cause undetermined
13%
64
Intentional / arson
13%
67
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
41
Under investigation
15%
78
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lorain County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 55% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 ELYRIA Building fires Major
2 $500,000 N RIDGEVILLE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $460,400 Avon Building fires Major
4 $346,800 LORAIN Building fires Major
5 $300,000 AVON Outside equipment fire Major
6 $200,000 COLUMBIA STATION Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $200,000 Elyria Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $189,000 SHEFFIELD VILLAGE Building fires Significant
9 $180,000 WELLINGTON Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 AVON Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Lorain County compares

Lorain County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lorain County
9.5
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
1.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lorain County
1.13
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lorain County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lorain County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39093.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lorain County

84 departments report from this county.

LORAIN FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 47021 575 incidents 82 paid
ELYRIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 47013 414 incidents 75 paid
MENTOR FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 43015 361 incidents 150 paid
WEST LICKING JT FIRE DISTRICT
—
FDID 45227 326 incidents 37 paid
WILLOUGHBY FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 43033 297 incidents 41 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.