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2025 County Report

Fires in Mercer County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Mercer County responded to 326 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss.

23,567 residents FIPS 39107 35 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
326
1,934 across 5 years
Building fires
85
43 wildland
Property loss
$4.8M
$3.2M structure · $1.6M contents
Casualties
0 / 7
0 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

326
Total Incidents
Building fires 85 26.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 9.5%
Grass fire 28 8.6%
Unauthorized burning 17 5.2%
Carbon monoxide incident 13 4.0%
All other categories 152 46.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mercer County?

Oct peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 28
Feb 18
Mar 28
Apr 42
May 37
Jun 15
Jul 28
Aug 14
Sep 26
Oct 43
Nov 34
Dec 13
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mercer County

1,934 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 391
2022 469
2023 370
2024 378
2025 326
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 85 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
49
Cause undetermined
32%
41
Intentional / arson
9%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
14
Under investigation
6%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mercer County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Maria Stein Building fires Major
2 $350,000 Celina Building fires Major
3 $350,000 Celina Building fires Major
4 $75,000 Fort Recovery Building fires Significant
5 $70,000 Coldwater Fire, other Significant
6 $70,000 Fort Recovery Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
7 $50,000 Fort Recovery Fire, other Significant
8 $50,000 Celina Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $40,000 Celina Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Celina Building fires Significant
06 How Mercer County compares

Mercer County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mercer County
13.83
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mercer County
3.61
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mercer County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mercer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39107.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mercer County

9 departments report from this county.

CELINA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 54003 119 incidents 16 paid
SOUTHWEST MERCER FIRE DISTRICT
—
FDID 54011 38 incidents 2 vol
COLDWATER FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 54009 32 incidents 2 vol
ROCKFORD COMMUNITY FIRE DEPART
—
FDID 54017 31 incidents
Montezuma Fire Department Inc
—
FDID 54015 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.