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2025 County Report

Fires in Marion County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Marion County responded to 633 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $280K property loss.

39,977 residents FIPS 39101 22 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
633
3,468 across 5 years
Building fires
125
26 wildland
Property loss
$2.4M
$1.8M structure · $639K 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 69% of all calls.

633
Total Incidents
Building fires 125 19.7%
Unauthorized burning 125 19.7%
Power line down 116 18.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 45 7.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 26 4.1%
All other categories 196 31.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Marion County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 30
Feb 38
Mar 66
Apr 77
May 55
Jun 55
Jul 53
Aug 54
Sep 57
Oct 75
Nov 49
Dec 24
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Marion County

3,468 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 756
2022 510
2023 840
2024 729
2025 633
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 125 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
50
Cause undetermined
15%
17
Intentional / arson
11%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
17
Under investigation
10%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Marion County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 67% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $280,000 Waldo Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Marion Building fires Significant
3 $110,000 MARION Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 MARION Fire, other Significant
5 $100,000 MARION Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Marion Building fires Significant
7 $91,815 MARION Building fires Significant
8 $85,000 MARION Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Marion Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 MARION Building fires Significant
06 How Marion County compares

Marion County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Marion County
15.83
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Marion County
3.13
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Marion County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Marion County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39101.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Marion County

1 departments report from this county.

Marion City Fire Department
MARION
FDID 51005 310 incidents 65 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.