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2025 County Report

Fires in Ottawa County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Ottawa County responded to 268 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $450K property loss.

16,361 residents FIPS 39123 26 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
268
1,634 across 5 years
Building fires
56
27 wildland
Property loss
$2.3M
$1.4M structure · $889K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 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.

268
Total Incidents
Building fires 56 20.9%
Power line down 29 10.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 28 10.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 20 7.5%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 18 6.7%
All other categories 117 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ottawa County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 15
Feb 19
Mar 22
Apr 44
May 17
Jun 23
Jul 45
Aug 19
Sep 13
Oct 26
Nov 18
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ottawa County

1,634 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 297
2022 352
2023 361
2024 356
2025 268
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 56 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
40
Cause undetermined
18%
14
Intentional / arson
14%
11
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
8
Under investigation
1%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ottawa County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $450,000 Port Clinton Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Elmore Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Port Clinton Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
4 $145,890 Lakeside Marblehead Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Genoa Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Elmore Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Oak Harbor Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $40,000 JERUSALEM TWP Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Oak Harbor Building fires Significant
10 $35,000 Oak Harbor Building fires Significant
06 How Ottawa County compares

Ottawa County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.38
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ottawa County
16.38
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.42
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ottawa County
3.42
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ottawa County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ottawa County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39123.

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.